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Richard Stanley (I) More at IMDbPro »

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Richard Stanley is the award-winning South African-born filmmaker, who made a name of himself with his first feature film, the sci-fi movie Hardware (1990). A low budget movie about a mad-dog android loose in an apartment was released in 1990. Critics slammed it as a Terminator rip-off, yet the film became a financial success. The 1.5 million dollar budget was paid back quite handsomely and continuation was imminent.

In 1992, Stanley followed Hardware with Dust Devil (1992), a story based on the myth of a Namibian serial killer. A fallout with the distributors led to the re-cutting of the US version, while the bankruptcy of the British-based production company Palace Pictures temporarily shut the post-production down in Europe and the film remained mauled or unfinished, depending how you look at it. Finally Stanley himself managed to finance a new, restored print from the original negative, which has later gained a cult following similar to Hardware.

His third feature was to be The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), an adaptation of the famed H.G. Wells novel. Unfortunately it ended up a victim of creative disputes, leading to him being sacked a few days after production began. The finished film, released in 1996, carries little to no resemblance to the version he was originally set to make, using only about two words of his original script.

This, however, hasn't beaten the visionary filmmaker down and horror movie fans are now waiting for him to come back... with a one mean vengeance.

Trade Mark

Typical elements of his movies are extreme violence, occultism, oneiricism and visionariness.

Trivia

Removed as director of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) after one to four (accounts vary) days of filming. He snuck back onto the the set in a dog-man mask.

Turned down an offer to direct Judge Dredd (1995).

Turned down an offer to direct Spice World (1997).

In the mid-90s his adaptation of Robert E. Howard's "Solomon Kane" was optioned by Ed Pressman who wanted to set it up with Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role. The whole thing was killed off by the "Moreau" affair.

Wrote a revisionist remake of The Wild Geese (1978). The project was essentially a modern day mercenary saga with meanspirited twists; it stayed in limbo despite the support of Roger Moore and the original movie's backers (Asia Argento was also in the frame for the female lead).

His adapted material includes: 'Shadowland' by Peter Straub (one of Stanley's favorite novels), "The Damnation Game" by Clive Barker, "The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch" by Philip K. Dick, "Flicker" by Theodore Roszak, "Cocaine Nights" by J.G. Ballard and "The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen.

Wrote a script called "Nemesis" (inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft poem with the same title) about a group of robbers who break into the vault of a very old Dutch bank to get some diamonds, but end up trapped inside the building fighting a demon who possessed one of them. The project was planned as a starring vehicle for Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sam Raimi was looking to direct it in the 90s, but sadly it didn't happen.

Dario Argento is one of his favorite directors.

Personal Quotes

"I do not feel that at any time it was ever my decision to make any of the movies I made, although I don't regret them."

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