Terrific doco. I knew the stories because people talk about this doco a lot but you should still see it because then you get the sense of personalities: Stanley is a fascinating figure, with long hair and hat, seemingly on the spectrum, who made a few impressive indies and did a script of Moreau that attracted Marlon Brando then Bob Wllis, It would up with Val Kilmer who basically ate Stanley alive- but so would have Brando and simply a big budget. The film dips a little when Stanley goes out of it.
David Gregory gets some fantastic names: Bob Shaye, Edward Pressman, Rob Morrow. My faves were the Aussie crew who drew Fairuza Bulk from Port Douglas to Sydney and then later persuaded Stanley to come back on set.
Could the film have been saved? Stanley wasn't up to that budget, at least not then. I don't think Frankenheimer was the right replacement. They needed to look at it and go, right what are people going to watch? Just film lots of Brando-Kilmer stuff, cast a heartthrob in the lead (can be unknown) and do action/horror. Easy to say at a distance.
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