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
Chacma baboon Chacma baboon The chacma baboon ("Papio ursinus"), also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide variety of social behaviors, including a dominance hierarchy, collective foraging, adoption of young by females, and friendship pairings. These behaviors form parts of a complex evolutionary ecology. In general the species is not threatened, but human population pressure has increased contact between humans and baboons. Hunting, accidents, and trapping kill or remove many baboons from the