It was directed by John Frankenheimer (who was brought in half a week after shooting started) and stars Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, and Fairuza Balk.

Bruce Willis was originally hired to play Edward Prendick, but allegedly dropped out as he started divorce proceedings from Demi Moore, his wife at the time.

Willis was replaced by Kilmer, who made his availability limited, and later had anger issues with most of the cast after also being served divorce papers on set.

Original director Richard Stanley was dismissed by New Line Cinema after problems arose during production, including a major hurricane, with Frankenheimer being brought in to replace him.

[10] United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas survives a plane crash in the Java Sea and is rescued by a passing boat.

Douglas's presence is noticed by a doctor—who turns out to be, also, a human/animal hybrid—and he flees, finding Aissa, a daughter of Moreau's, who leads him to the ‘village’ of the mutants.

Eventually, M'Ling, another one of Moreau's sons, triggers an explosion that causes Hyena-Swine to lose his gun and allows Douglas to escape.

As recounted in David Gregory's documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014), the chaotic events of the making of the film quickly led to its becoming one of the most difficult and troubled productions in Hollywood history.

Buoyed by these developments, Stanley enthusiastically launched into pre-production, collaborating with special effects creator Stan Winston on the creation of makeup and costumes for Moreau's hybrid creatures and preparing the location and sets.

Stanley's vulnerability to studio pressure was exacerbated by the continuing absence of his main ally, Brando, but the biggest problem proved to be the notorious on-set behaviour of Kilmer, who reportedly arrived two days late.

[11] Kilmer later attributed his obnoxious behaviour to the fact that, just as filming began, he learned from a television report that he was being sued for divorce by his wife of seven years, Joanne Whalley.

[11] The studio mainly seems to have blamed the director for not getting Kilmer under control,[15][16] but another significant factor was the sudden departure of co-star Rob Morrow on the second day of shooting.

With the location being pounded by bad weather that had temporarily stopped filming, Morrow found himself unable to bear the tension and hostility on set any longer, so he telephoned New Line chairman Rob Shaye in Hollywood and tearfully begged to be let go.

The beleaguered director reacted angrily, shredding documents in revenge and then vanishing after being delivered to the airport for the return flight to Hollywood.

[15] Stanley had been offered his full fee on condition that he leave the production quietly and not speak about his firing, so his disappearance caused consternation at New Line, who feared he might try to sabotage the filming.

Outraged female lead Fairuza Balk stormed off the set after a heated exchange with New Line executives and then had a production assistant drive her all the way from Cairns to Sydney - a distance of some 2,500 km - in a rented limousine.

By her own account however, Balk's agent then warned her in blunt terms that the studio would ruin her and that she would never work in films again if she broke her contract, so she was soon forced to return to the set.

He came on board in part because - like virtually every member of the cast and crew - he wanted the opportunity to work with the legendary Brando,[17] but he also used the studio's desperation to his advantage, successfully demanding a hefty fee and a three-picture deal in exchange for his services.

Well known as one of the last of the "old style" Hollywood directors, Frankenheimer's gruff, dictatorial approach was radically different from Stanley's and he soon alienated many of the cast and crew.

Brando agreed to his decision to have the then-current script by Richard Stanley, Michael Herr and Walon Green rewritten by Frankenheimer's previous collaborator Ron Hutchinson.

Frankenheimer also needed to find a new lead actor to replace Rob Morrow and brought in David Thewlis to play Douglas.

Brando routinely spent hours in his air-conditioned trailer when he was supposed to be on camera, while actors and extras sweltered in the tropical heat in full make-up and heavy costumes.

The antipathy between Brando and Kilmer rapidly escalated into open hostility and on one occasion, as recounted in Lost Soul, this resulted in the cast and crew being kept waiting for hours, with each actor refusing to come out of his respective trailer before the other.

[11][19] Stanley later revealed that he had stayed in Australia; suffering an emotional breakdown, he had retreated to a remote area in the Cairns region to recover.

It was confirmed by these same production staff in the Lost Soul documentary[19] that with their help Stanley secretly came back to the set over several days, disguised in full costume as one of the dog-men, and performed as an extra on the film he originally had been hired to direct.

[35] The character of Dr. Alphonse Mephesto and his adopted son Kevin from South Park are direct homages to Marlon Brando's Dr Moreau and Nelson de la Rosa's Majai.