Project X is a 1987 American comedy-science fiction-thriller film produced by Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt, William Sadler and Stephen Lang. The film makes a political commentary on the ethics of animal research. Ironically, the producers of the movie were themselves accused of animal cruelty during the filming by TV personality Bob Barker and the United Activists for Animal Rights. However the American Humane Association, which consulted during the movie for the producers, filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit, arguing that the animal cruelty claims were based on rumors and hearsay. In 1994, Barker's insurance company settled the lawsuit for $300,000 over Barker's objections. The film begins with graduate student Teri MacDonald (Helen Hunt) and her work training a chimpanzee named Virgil to use American Sign Language. When her research grant is not renewed, Virgil is taken away. Teri is told that Virgil will be sent to a zoo. Instead, he is taken to an Air Force base to be used in a top-secret research project involving platforms designed to simulate the operation of aircraft.