Island Of Dr. Moreau movie being remade by Warners

[Dream]

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is going back to The Island Of Dr. Moreau. The studio and Appian Way partners Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran have set Lee Shipman & Brian McGreevy to pen a contemporary re-imagining of H.G. Wells’ classic novel. The intention is to make it a sci-fi film with a topical ecological message. Appian Way will produce with Mad Hatter Entertainment’s Michael Connolly.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/warner-bros-eyes-island-of-dr-moreau/

I'm a fan of the book. It seems this will be one of those books that get a ton movies just because it was popular. I don't know if making it modern day would work or not, I prefer if it was set during the same era as the novel.

 

[Harvey]

The Island of Lost Souls is terrific, but hardly faithful. Has a faithful adaptation of the novel ever been made?

 

[Skywalker]

Good grief. It's not a remake.

 

[Dream]

Good grief. It's not a remake.

Remake or re-imagining... whatever. There was already an Island of Dr Moreau movie that was made wasn't there?

 

[Tosk]

I prefer if it was set during the same era as the novel.

Same here, but it seems they just never want to do that. The idea that people won't go see a period piece is just idiotic.

I'm still hanging for faithful versions of The Invisible Man and War of the Worlds. (The only faithful one is a super-low-budget POS.)

 

[Redfern]

The 1977 version with Burt Lancaster and Michael York could be considered a "period" piece. Barbara Carrera played the "uplifted" leopard lady.

Speaking of Carrera, that's a motif that started with the "Lost Souls" adaptation and has become something of a recurring theme in subsequent versions, the dark haired beauty with whom the "shipwrecked hero" becomes enchanted and turns out to be derived from a black leopard. That element was NOT in the original book. Well, Prendick does encounter such a being, but he is repulsed at the concept. Wells described the creature as hideous and sitting in her own "filth". Prendick definitely does NOT want a piece of that tail! (Sorry, I just had to type that!)

That's one concept I didn't mind deviating from the source material.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Greg Cox]

Good grief. It's not a remake.

Remake or re-imagining... whatever. There was already an Island of Dr Moreau movie that was made wasn't there?

There have been three to date, with Charles Laughton, Burt Lancaster, and Marlon Brando, respectively.

As for the period piece thing, it's perhaps worth noting that the original novels weren't conceived as period pieces when Wells wrote them; they had contemporary settings which have only become become "period" with the passage of time. But he certainly wasn't trying to capture some sort of quaint, Victorian atmosphere; he was writing cutting-edge "scientific romances" set during what was then the present day.

 

[Davros]

Good grief. It's not a remake.

Remake or re-imagining... whatever. There was already an Island of Dr Moreau movie that was made wasn't there?

There at least two I can think of.

 

[Greg Cox]

Good grief. It's not a remake.

Remake or re-imagining... whatever. There was already an Island of Dr Moreau movie that was made wasn't there?

There at least two I can think of.

To be precise:

Island of Lost Souls (1932), with Charles Laughton.
The Island of Doctor Moreau (1977), with Burt Lancaster
The Island of Doctor Moreau (1996) with Marlon Brando.

So, counting this new version, we're averaging one every twenty-plus years!

 

[Skywalker]

So, see you guys for the fifth adaptation in 2035?

 

[theenglish]

Good grief. It's not a remake.

Remake or re-imagining... whatever. There was already an Island of Dr Moreau movie that was made wasn't there?

There have been three to date, with Charles Laughton, Burt Lancaster, and Marlon Brando, respectively.

As for the period piece thing, it's perhaps worth noting that the original novels weren't conceived as period pieces when Wells wrote them; they had contemporary settings which have only become become "period" with the passage of time. But he certainly wasn't trying to capture some sort of quaint, Victorian atmosphere; he was writing cutting-edge "scientific romances" set during what was then the present day.

I agree. A period piece could be legitimately done for older novels, but is really only necessary when it is relevant to the story...A Farewell to Arms, for example. James Bond is a great example. At this point you could make a pretty strong case to set the movies as period pieces, but they still make pretty good stories in modern settings.

 

[Tosk]

As for the period piece thing, it's perhaps worth noting that the original novels weren't conceived as period pieces when Wells wrote them

I only referred to "period pieces" because that's the thing that often has Hollywood turn it's nose up. I know Wells just set them in the time period he was living in, but that's still where I'd like to see his stories set. When you update something to the modern age, something is always lost. And sometimes a whole hell of a lot is lost. **Cough-War-of-the-Worlds--cough**

 

[Greg Cox]

So, see you guys for the fifth adaptation in 2035?

That would be the holo-version downloaded directly into our brains, right?

 

[theenglish]

So, see you guys for the fifth adaptation in 2035?

That would be the holo-version downloaded directly into our brains, right?

Maybe. The Brando version came out about five years before I joined this board and now we are ready for the next version.

 

[Shilliam Watner]

South Park has their own take on Dr. Moreau.

 

[Turtletrekker]

As for the period piece thing, it's perhaps worth noting that the original novels weren't conceived as period pieces when Wells wrote them; they had contemporary settings which have only become become "period" with the passage of time. But he certainly wasn't trying to capture some sort of quaint, Victorian atmosphere; he was writing cutting-edge "scientific romances" set during what was then the present day.

Besides, being a period piece adds a lot to a movies budget, as the costumes and sets all have to be specially made to fit the era being depicted.

 

[Mr. Comic Book]

I prefer if it was set during the same era as the novel.

Same here, but it seems they just never want to do that. The idea that people won't go see a period piece is just idiotic.

I'm still hanging for faithful versions of The Invisible Man and War of the Worlds. (The only faithful one is a super-low-budget POS.)

Sadly, it's legally impossible for Paramount or any major studio to do a War of the Worlds set in the original 1901 England setting. Jeff Wayne, the guy behind the 1976 WotW rock musical, tied up the international rights in such a way that any big-budget film version has to be approved by him first...and he will not permit any period-set movie that isn't an adaptation of his musical. Kenneth Branagh, Tom Cruise, and the Hallmark Channel all found this out the hard way when they tried to make a period adaptation at varying times from 1994-2003. Hellboy screenwriter Peter Briggs had written a script set in the original time period that all three parties were circling, and every time they made a move, Wayne shot them down. (Some of Briggs' interviews on the subject can still be found floating about the Internet.) The Spielberg/Cruise film was the result of a deal struck between Paramount and Wayne: in exchange for him relaxing his hold over the rights to allow Paramount global distribution, they had to make a contemporary movie and let him have the period setting to himself.

Mind you, Wayne hasn't been in too much of a hurry to actually make a movie of his musical (which I personally think sucks). He made some noise about making a CGI animated film for release in 2007, but instead he just rerecorded his musical with new actors (Liam Neeson replacing Richard Burton), a stage show touring Europe, and an album of remixes. I do recall reading in magazines at the time of the Spielberg movie (it may have been Cinefex) that Wayne even owns the rights to the "The" in the book's title and bragged that he'd like to carve it on his tombstone as a sign of ownership. So until or unless Wayne's ownership finally expires, you're not going to see any major studio do a period version of the story. The only reason Pendragon's Z-grade version squeaked by was because (a) it was never going to have mass distribution and (b) its Z-grade status guaranteed it posed no threat to Wayne's monopoly, as opposed to what Paramount and the Hallmark Channel would have done.

Disappointing? Yes. But it can't be helped.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Sadly, it's legally impossible for Paramount or any major studio to do a War of the Worlds set in the original 1901 England setting. Jeff Wayne, the guy behind the 1976 WotW rock musical, tied up the international rights in such a way that any big-budget film version has to be approved by him first...and he will not permit any period-set movie that isn't an adaptation of his musical.

...by now, he has to realize no one has a desire to see his "musical" crap tied to the classic story. Talk about trying to write yourself into history...