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
Yellow baboon Yellow baboon The yellow baboon ("Papio cynocephalus") is a baboon in the family of Old World monkeys. The species epithet literally means "dog-head" in Greek, due to the shape of the muzzle and head. They have slim bodies with long arms and legs, and yellowish-brown hair. They resemble the Chacma baboon, but are smaller with a less elongated muzzle. Their hairless faces are black, framed with white sideburns. Males can grow to about 84 cm, females to about 60 cm. They have long tails which grow to be nearly as long as their bodies. Their life spans are roughly 20–30