His new movie stars Nicolas Cage as an alien-fighting alpaca farmer. But the maverick film-maker’s life story might be even trippier
Extraordinary stories tumble out of Richard Stanley’s mouth – absurdist adventures from far-off lands, anecdotes involving ghosts and warlocks – all delivered with a mischievous matter-of-factness. One minute, he is talking about a short film he directed after a glow-in-the-dark Ouija board from Toys “R” Us dictated the plot to him; the next, he is remembering a friend who died after doing a ritual to placate “a seemingly fictional deity”. We are ostensibly discussing his new film, Color Out of Space, but it is understandable that he might head off on the odd extended detour; it has, after all, been 28 years since he directed a feature.
His last attempt was his 1996 adaptation of HG Wells’s The Island of Dr Moreau: a dream project for Stanley that turned into a disaster. The daughter of its star, Marlon Brando, killed herself the day before the Australian shoot, leaving the production in temporary limbo in his absence. Co-star Val Kilmer repeatedly disrespected Stanley. A hurricane almost obliterated the set. Engulfed in chaos, Stanley was fired after just three days of shooting, and replaced by John Frankenheimer. Stanley’s contribution to the film was uncredited. (The whole episode was revisited in the terrific 2014 documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau.)
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