'Chimp Crazy' director on Tonia Haddix's bananas on-camera reveal that she took Tonka
Sunday's finale of "Chimp Crazy" uncaged the entirety of a new docuseries from a co-director of “Tiger King.” For the four-part tale (now streaming on Max), Eric Goode peeled back the world of “monkey moms.”
“Not everything I do will always revolve around exotic animal owners,” Goode vowed in an interview ahead of the project's Aug. 18 premiere. But when the founder of the Turtle Conservancy discovered a group of people that keep monkeys and chimpanzees as pets, he found a story that he couldn’t pass up.
“I just was so intrigued by this idea that there were women that wanted to keep monkeys and chimpanzees as children and dress them and live with them as if they're their own children,” Goode said. “And then the story kept growing and I had more and more interesting characters in what became ‘Chimp Crazy.’”
The docuseries introduces viewers to various owners, including trainer Pam Rosaire, who once breastfed a premature chimp back to health. But the real star of Goode’s new project is Tonia Haddix, a former nurse who fell head over heels for a movie star. He just happened to be a chimp named Tonka.
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After appearing in films like “George of the Jungle,” “Babe: Pig in the City” and “Buddy,” Tonka wound up at the Missouri Primate Foundation, where he met Haddix, a volunteer. Beneath her big, bleached curls, enhanced lashes and plumped lips beats a heart made to love chimps.
“I love these chimps more than anything in the world, and I mean more than anything,” Haddix says in the docuseries. “More than my kids, more than anything.”
“Human children are meant to grow up and build bonds with other people and society, but not chimpanzees,” she says. “Their mother is their whole life, and that primate feels that way about you because you become their mother.”
But attempting to domesticate a wild animal isn’t without challenges or risks, even for the woman dubbed the “Dolly Parton of the chimps.” The docuseries revisits a 2009 attack in which a chimpanzee brought from Casey mauled Charla Nash so savagely she underwent a face transplant.
In Haddix’s case, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a lawsuit against Casey demanding improved conditions for the animals housed at the Missouri foundation. PETA enlists the help of actor Alan Cumming, who fell in love with Tonka on the set of their 1997 comedy "Buddy."
Haddix suggested Casey transfer ownership of the seven chimps over to her. After introducing the characters (and primates), the docuseries picks up as PETA files a motion to move them to a sanctuary. Except for Tonka, who goes missing as the others are relocated. Unable to part with her love, Haddix took Tonka and kept him in a habitat hidden in her home. In a shocking moment in the docuseries, Haddix reveals Tonka and his enclosure to Goode's cameras.
Haddix had become close with Dwayne Cunningham, a "proxy director" Goode hired to act as the face of the docuseries, increasing his access to sources. (Goode's notoriety from "Tiger King" made subjects hesitant to speak with him.)
Cunningham "would always tell, ‘Tanya don't say anything to the camera that you don't want the whole world to know,’" Goode said. He's unsure why she would share her secret with the world.
"I think Tonia — that's one of her, wonderful qualities. And we were very grateful for that, that she just led us into her life in such an intimate way," Goode said. "She was very generous in just allowing us in. I guess she couldn't hold back at a certain point. She just showed us the chimpanzee, which we were shocked to see."
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Goode said he initially believed Tonka wasn’t "in any imminent danger" in Haddix's care and filming progressed "week by week." The filmmakers ended up notifying PETA that Haddix was keeping Tonka, and he was taken to an animal sanctuary.
Goode said Haddix had concerns about being targeted by animal rights groups and if she'll be able to have chimpanzees in the future.
"She hasn't been able to see the sanctuary where Tonka is," Goode says. "I don't think the people that run it want her to come there. She should be able to go do that, but that's not my decision. But she has good days and bad days. I think part of her is excited about the show and part of her is nervous about if there's going to be any ripple effects."
Goode recognizes there are similarities between his latest work and “Tiger King.” However, “I think it's really a very different story,” he said. The first season of "Tiger King" offered many meme-able moments and blessed us with the phrase "Hey all you cool cats and kittens!“ while chronicling a tense rivalry between Oklahoma zoo proprietor Joe Exotic and big cat sanctuary owner Carole Baskin. But "Chimp Crazy" feels noticeably sadder.
"Maybe it's because it's a chimpanzee, and the closeness that the subjects have with these animals," Goode said. "In ‘Tiger King,’ there wasn't that intimacy or affection to one tiger, and so I think that it's maybe more emotional, although there's a lot of surprises.”
Goode hopes viewers walk away with an understanding “that these are our brothers and our sisters,” the director said of the chimpanzees, whose DNA so closely resembles that of humans. “They really are complex social creatures, just like us.”