Today, film shoots are strictly regulated by law—everything must be safe, or the creators risk being dragged into court. However, 50 years ago, when computer graphics were not as advanced, directors often took significant risks for the sake of spectacular shots. Noel Marshall, the director of the adventure comedy Roar, nearly endangered the entire film crew.
The 1981 film tells the story of an American naturalist surviving in the middle of Africa with his family. The main characters of the film were not humans but wild animals—lions, leopards, tigers, and elephants.
One day, filmmaker Noel Marshall and his wife, actress Tippi Hedren, saw an abandoned house in a Mozambican nature reserve that had been taken over by dangerous predators. The scene left such an impression on the couple that they decided to make a film. Preparation took years because the couple chose to raise the lions themselves, who would play in the movie.
After five years, filming began, but it turned into a disaster. Fires broke out on set, animals escaped, and people suffered serious injuries. A tiger scalped a cameraman, the director was hospitalized with gangrene, and actress Melanie Griffith, Antonio Banderas' future wife, had to undergo plastic surgery after being attacked by a lion.
In 1981, the ill-fated film was finally released. A note in the credits stated: "No animals were harmed during the making of this film. The same cannot be said for the 70 crew members."
