Endangered Species (1982)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: New York City and Colorado

Endangered Species is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed and co-written by Alan Rudolph, and starring Robert Urich, JoBeth Williams, Peter Coyote, and Hoyt Axton. It follows a former New York City police officer (Urich) who relocates to a rural Colorado town, where a newly appointed sheriff (Williams) is investigating a series of bizarre cattle mutilations.

Production

The film was based on a story by producer Zalman King, which in turn was inspired by cattle mutilations that had been reported in America since 1967. Journalists Judson Klinger and Richard Clayton Woods spent two years of researching cattle mutilations by interviewing ranchers, law enforcement officials, scientists, and other individuals who had knowledge or experience with the phenomenon across ten states, while also gathering photographs and da…

Director Alan Rudolph made the film as part of a two picture deal he had with producers Zalman King and Carolyn Pfeiffer, the first having been Roadie (1980). Rudolph found the idea ofEndangered Species interesting and asked to have "a crack at the screenplay." He and co-writer John Binder revised the screenplay, ultimately crafting an explanation commenting on abuse of power inspired by the Watergate scandal.

Finance came from MGM then under the stewardship of David Begelman. Rudolph wanted to cast Robert Mitchum or Lee Marvin in the lead, particularly Mitchum, but MGM refused and gave the director a list of actors it had under contract "completely different from what I'd imagined."

Principal photography of Endangered Species took place in Buffalo, Wyoming in the fall of 1981.

According to Rudolph, filming was delayed a year due to the Writers' Guild strike and the movie was affected by executive interference:

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