Filming began in April 1990. But after 18 days of shooting, the production was shut down. The producers felt that Willem Dafoe's performance was not funny enough and disrupted the comedic tone of the script. The footage has not been released in any form.
Lolita is a killer whale who lives at the Miami Seaquarium. While writing the script, Michael O'Donoghue and Mitch Glazer watched her perform. At one point, her trainer puts his head in her mouth. This inspired them to write the scene in which she bites a man's head off. Production was halted during the filming of this scene.
After the production was shut down, Paramount hurriedly tried to revive it as a Billy Crystal vehicle, but this too failed to come together.
The Humane Society objected to the portrayal of animals in the script. In the opening scene, a killer whale bites a man's head off. In another, Mickey throws Joy's dog to a pack of alligators.