It is one of the most legitimately dangerous movies ever made. It featured a 150 untrained lions along with a pack of elephants, cougars, panthers, tigers, and more with actors interacting on camera together. What could go wrong? Yes, this is a real movie that was obviously mired in injuries, crew members walking out, too many injuries, and a years-long struggle to get all financed. This is the insane story of Roar. OKI’s Weird Stories documented how crazy all of this was in this retrospective video above.
The 1981 film was directed, produced, and starred Noel Marshall who along with his family had raised a family lion cubs in California. A animal trainer mistakenly told them they would need to fully raise a pack of lions from cubs to get a bond with to properly make the film, and that just expanded into more animals that no one should keep as pets. Marshall’s wife Tippi Hedren (star of ‘the Birds) with daughter Melanie Griffith and son John Marshall were a part of the film which took place on a real animal sanctuary that Marshall had purchased to maintain the growing collection of animals. It was a giant mess with Marshall, Griffith, and other suffering serious injuries that delayed production, only for them to trudge on with the misguided project.
Movie review channel Red Letter Media roasted the movie for it’s cringe-inducing uncomfortable tone and unhealthy situations in a recent episode. Yep, that’s MacCauley Culken on the panel. The Roar segment starts about 45 minutes into the show.
