14 DAY TRIAL // In 1981, the most dangerous movie ever made was released in select theaters in the US and Australia: it was called “Roar” and starred Tippi Hedren, Noel Marshall, Melanie Griffith, Jerry Marshall, John Marshall, Kyalo Mativo and Steve Miller, and over 150 wild animals including lions, tigers, panthers and elephants.
None of the interactions between humans and beasts was in any way guarded, or created in post-production. Everything happening on film really happened, whether it was a lion mauling a cast member or Melanie Griffith getting cuddly with another.
“Roar” is arriving in US theaters
The film took 11 years to complete and a budget of well over $17 million (€15.7 million), and led to over 70 attacks on the cast and crew, some of which required hospital stays and hundreds of stitches. On the bright side, no animals were harmed during the production and no one was killed.
However, details of the injuries sustained by the cast and crew are well known, having been discussed in the media at the time.
Melanie required facial reconstructive surgery after a lion mauled her and almost left her without an eye, Tippi was thrown from an elephant and broke a leg and was attacked by one of the cats, while cinematographer Jan de Bont was scalped by another and needed 220 stitches to the back of his head, to have everything put back together as it was.
“Roar” was never released wide, but Alamo Drafthouse has now secured the rights to it and is bringing it in select locations starting today, Friday, April 17, 2015, VictoriaAdvocate writes in a review of the film. It will expand to about 50 cities through May, and hopefully be out on DVD this summer, the AP reports.
Embedded below is a trailer for “Roar,” which was directed by Noel Marshall. He also funded the movie in its second year of production, when backers… backed out. To this day, “Roar” made less than $2 million (€1.86 million), so between the overblown budget and the terrible injuries sustained, it was as unwise a project as it was dangerous.
Hype is building fast
And it’s exactly this which makes “Roar” such a hyped project: here is a group of industry people risking their lives in the stupidest way possible, for the sake of their art.
It’s true, reviewers say, in their quest to deliver a bold and brave movie, they completely ignored the story and the dialog, but that’s not what will get people in theaters, after all.
Speaking of which, “Roar” is the story of a zoologist who lives in Africa with his wild animals. His family, Noel Marshall’s real-life family, joins him after a while, and will have to face the reality of sharing their home and life with beasts they never imagined encountering within such a close distance.
Reviewers note that some of the most terrifying, in a can’t-stop-watching-kind-of-way, are those in which Marshall launches himself to separate 2 lions fighting, or lions attacking people. That’s probably in the spirit of his zoologist character.
Here’s a taste of “Roar.”
