Untamed Heart agent, MGM had greenlighted the project. Originally, the film was titled "The Baboon Heart" in honor of an infant named Baby Fae (born 14 October 1984) who received a cross-species heart transplant from a baboon to fix a congenital heart defect. Initially, Bill had not considered Christian Slater for the role of Adam, “but then it was just the obvious choice." For the role of Caroline, Bill remembered auditioning Marisa Tomei for his earlier film, "Five Corners". While she had been too young for that role, after her success with "My Cousin Vinny" he felt she was right for the
Guinea baboon Guinea baboon The Guinea baboon ("Papio papio") is a baboon from the Old World monkey family. Some (older) classifications list only two species in the genus "Papio", this one and the hamadryas baboon. In those classifications, all other "Papio" species are considered subspecies of "P. papio" and the species is called the savanna baboon. The Guinea baboon inhabits a small area in western Africa. Its range includes Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, southern Mauritania and western Mali. Its habitat includes dry forests, gallery forests, and adjoining bush savannas or steppes. It has reddish-brown hair, a hairless, dark-violet or black face with the