Oh man, everyone who was involved in the making of this movie should be committed. The more you learn about the production the more insane it gets. From the lack of animal trainers, to the financial and production issues (took 11 years to make), to the injuries suffered by cast and crew (approximately 100 in total), lions and tigers escaping into the greater Los Angeles area, it just gets more crazy the more you look into it. The movie itself is also pretty terrible which is the icing on the cake.
Do yourself a favor and watch the trailer, and the cast and crew talking about making this move. Pure insanity.
Red Letter Media had an hilarious discussion (with Macaulay Culkin, no less) of Roar on a recent episode of their series "Best of the Worst": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaSkO4TosYo
This movie was INCREDIBLE to watch knowing that it was all real. This was 'reality tv' at it's best. Try to ignore the shitty plot, the Lions are the real stars.
Oh, yeah, the one where a young Melanie Griffith got mauled by a lion and had to get reconstructive surgery. That production sounds like it was nuts. OTOH, from what I’ve read about Hitchcock, maybe Heddren found this a pleasant break.
It might also be by way of my newsletter, which featured it yesterday, and which I know lots of HNers read: https://www.gwern.net/newsletter/2019/10 (Which is only fair because, after all, I found it via someone else on /r/wikipedia .)
> Marshall and Hedren wrote a script for the project, whose working title was Lions, Lions and More Lions.
Heroic and funny. They accumulated more than 70 wild animals and sold the shirts off their backs. What kind of manic energy makes someone capable of this shit?
Do yourself a favor and watch the trailer, and the cast and crew talking about making this move. Pure insanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cny_D50Rr44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRGMOLyYKUA