The Legendary Production of One of the Most Dangerous Movies Ever Made

What could possibly go wrong while shooting a movie with a reported 150 lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, and elephants? After their 1969 trip to a nature preserve in Zimbabwe, married couple Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren were inspired to make Roar, a 1981 film about a scientist and his family living in such an environment among wild animals. Perhaps they had never heard — or decided to ignore — the advice of entertainer W.C. Fields, who famously warned against the inherently difficult nature of working with animals on film. Regardless, Marshall and Hedren, along with their Roar cast and crew, would learn this lesson the hard way.

Along with their real-life children, including Melanie Griffith, Marshall and Hedren commenced production on the daring film in 1976. While Roar wouldn’t hit theaters until 1981, it quickly became the stuff of legends as numerous people involved with the film sustained serious injuries thanks to their wild and unforgiving co-workers. If the film’s tongue-in-cheek tagline, “No animals were harmed in the making of this movie, 70 members of the cast and crew were,” is any indication, Roar is a singularly wild cinematic experience that has to be seen to be believed.

What Is ‘Roar’ About?

Whether intentional or not, Roar hinges on a paper-thin story that largely functions as secondary to its larger-than-life spectacle. Managing a Tanzanian nature preserve, Hank (Noel Marshall), works with a population of lions, tigers, cougars, and jaguars as he awaits the arrival of his wife Madeleine (Tippi Hedren) and children Melanie (Melanie Griffith), John (John Marshall), and Jerry (Jerry Marshall). After members of an oversight committee are attacked by the animals, all hell breaks loose and Hank, pursued by lions, is forced to flee with his friend Mativo (KyaloMativo). While Hank is gone, his family arrives at the preserve and enters into a literal lion’s den.

What follows isn’t so much a traditionally structured and crafted adventure film, but more of a viscerally thrilling, pseudo-documentary viewing experience that blends fantasy and reality in a way few films have before or since. While Hank and his vulnerable family fight for survival, skirting one brush with death after another, the action feels threatening to the point of anxiety-inducing authenticity. As it turns out, much of what viewers see in Roar is dangerously real, and the film’s cast and crew were ultimately able to provide receipts as evidence of the harrowing experiences they endured. “No one is ever going to make a movie like this again,” said John Marshall in 2015. “In hindsight, I know how stupid it was to do this film. I am amazed no one died.”

Many of ‘Roar’s Cast and Crew Suffered Serious Injuries

Roar began filming at the Shambala Preserve in Santa Clarita, California on October 1, 1976, and it wouldn’t be long before the injuries that would inevitably plague actors and crew members started racking up. Among the litany of pain sustained during the dangerous production included Melanie Griffith being clawed in the face, Tippi Hedren suffering from gangrene after having her leg squashed by an elephant, and John Marshall’s head being gnawed on by a lion. “It took six guys 25 minutes to get it off of me,” Marshall remembers. But it was cinematographer — and director of Speed and Twister — Jan De Bont who arguably got the worst of it, requiring 120 stitches after he was nearly scalped by one of the ferocious felines. Despite sustaining such a horrific injury, however, De Bont stunned everyone by reporting back to work. To make matters worse, fires and a flood devastated the film’s shooting location.

Roar was also beset by financial and scheduling woes, ultimately costing $17 million and taking a reported three years to complete. For Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren, the harrowing experience contributed to the downfall of their marriage and led to a divorce in 1982. Additionally, while making Roar was a risky endeavor that nearly cost lives, the cast and crew received little short-term recognition for their efforts. Though the film played well with audiences abroad, particularly in Germany and Japan, it never secured theatrical distribution in North America and grossed a mere $2 million by the end of its box office run. But a film with a reputation as notorious as Roar‘s was bound to see a resurgence in popularity sooner or later, and thanks to a few inquiring minds, that’s what happened 34 years after its initial release.

Drafthouse Films Re-Released ‘Roar’ in 2015

Tim League, founder of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Drafthouse Films, first caught wind of Roar via filmmaker Greg Marcks while attending the 2014 Telluride Film Festival. “He sent me a DVD and it just blew my mind,” League recalled. Sensing an exciting and potentially lucrative opportunity to reintroduce Roar to modern moviegoers, League negotiated a deal with the film’s owner, Olive Films, to re-release the 1981 thriller in 2015. League’s hopes for audience interest were confirmed after a screening at the South by Southwest film festival. “Everybody was on the edge of their seats for this entire film,” Leage said. “It’s this great little undiscovered treasure that we’re hoping to find a whole new audience for.”

Per The Hollywood Reporter, following its debut at the South by Southwest film festival, Roar managed to secure theatrical distribution in roughly 50 American cities. By July 2015, the film had screened in 100 theaters and brought in more than $100,000 in ticket sales, further validating Tim League’s hunch that the lost gem of an adventure thriller still had plenty of mileage with viewers 34 years after its original release. According to Entertainment Weekly, Tippi Hedren allegedly had mixed feelings about Roar‘s resurgence with audiences due to her evolving thoughts regarding human beings co-existing with wild animals. Melanie Griffith, however, was pleased with the film’s renewed interest. “I sent Melanie a DVD and wasn’t sure how she was going to accept it,” said John Marshall. “Three weeks later she said, ‘Can I get 10 more copies?'”

Roar is available to buy on Blu-ray on Amazon in the U.S.

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