In the animal-adventure genre there is nothing new under the sun — or is there? For Touchstone Films, the novel twist of casting a most unusual fauna in the title role of Baby was inspiration for the telling of an old tale in a decidedly new way. The Isidoro Raponi-designed infant brontosaurus star was born cinematically in the rain forests of Africa's Ivory Coast following an arduous three-year gestation period. For director B.W.L. Norton and producer Jonathan Taplin, the trials and tribulations of bringing the $14 million production to life involved an exhausting — often harrowing — labor. And the challenge of creating high-tech special effects in a low-tech Third World country furnished all involved with more than their share of real-life thrills and chills.
