Mighty Joe Young
Short description
Jill Young grows up in Central Africa alongside a gorilla named Joe, who was orphaned as an infant when poachers raided his group. Joe is no ordinary ape: a genetic anomaly has made him grow far larger than any normal gorilla. Jill, whose mother was killed by the poachers years earlier, becomes his protector. When Gregg O'Hara, who runs a wildlife refuge in California, discovers the pair, he persuades Jill that Joe will be safer in the United States. The poacher Strasser, who lost fingers to Joe during the earlier attack, follows them, determined to take the animal for himself.
The film is a remake of the 1949 picture of the same name, directed by Ron Underwood. It followed his earlier features Tremors, City Slickers, Heart and Souls and Speechless, and was released in December 1998. Charlize Theron plays Jill, with Bill Paxton as Gregg, Rade Šerbedžija as Strasser, Peter Firth as his associate Garth, David Paymer and Regina King in supporting roles. Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal wrote the screenplay, and Rick Baker handled the creature effects.
Made for about 90 million dollars, the film took in roughly 51 million worldwide, a return well below its cost. On IMDb it holds 5.7 from around 32,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.3 from about 900. The critics' rating of 6 out of 10 from 53 reviews sits close to the audience scores, suggesting a modest reception on both sides.
What's left behind the scenes
- As in most similar films from the 1990s, this film combines mechanics/electronics and computer graphics. In most scenes, Joe Young was portrayed by an actor (John Alexander) in an animatronic, radio-controlled gorilla suit created by Rick Baker and his team at Cinovation Studios. Alexander often portrayed the gorilla on set surrounded by blue screens, onto which specialists from DreamQuest Images subsequently overlaid pre-shot images of the environment. Joe Young as a child was played by Verne Troyer (1969-2018).
- On July 2, 1997, during filming in the San Fernando Valley, cinematographer Donald Peterman (1932-2011) and his assistant fell from a seven-meter height from an operator's crane. Peterman suffered a broken leg, fractured ribs, and minor head injuries, while his assistant sustained chest and back injuries. Work on the film was halted for two days, and Oliver Wood took Peterman's place. In 2000, Peterman sued the crane manufacturing company and the company that rented it to the filmmakers, and won the lawsuit, receiving $5 million.
- At the beginning of the film, sounds of gorillas can be heard. Some of these were actually made by predatory cats.
- After completing work on Michael Apted’s drama “Gorillas in the Mist” (1988), special effects and make-up artist Rick Baker vowed never to deal with animatronics again. Baker broke his promise by creating the gorilla scene in the comedy “Baby’s Day Out” (Patrick Read Johnson, 1994), after which he loudly repeated that he was finished with animatronics. When Baker was invited to the “Mighty Joe Young” project, he couldn’t resist – due to his love for King Kong and the original Joe Young film from 1949. This shows the last animatronic gorilla suit created by Baker. Later, however, Baker worked on Tim Burton’s science fiction film “Planet of the Apes” (2001) starring Mark Wahlberg.
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