Before There Was Tiger King, There Was ‘Roar’

Long before Tiger King exposed the controversial world of private big cat ownership, the film Roar explored the extreme boundaries of human-big cat interaction and safety. Released in 1981, this incredibly ambitious movie featured over 100 untrained wild animals alongside its human cast, which included Hollywood stars Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith. Making Roar was a dangerous yet fascinating undertaking that involved a shocking number of on-set injuries, cementing its legacy as the “most dangerous film ever made.”

Roar‘s Ambitious Vision

After Tippi Hedren starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s famous 1963 film, The Birds, she went on to film Satan’s Harvest in Zimbabwe. During this time, she and her then-husband, Noel Marshall, visited a game reserve in Mozambique. There, they saw 30 lions living together in an abandoned house. This striking image inspired Hedren, a passionate animal lover, to suggest to Marshall that they use this idea to create a film. She hoped that the film would inspire viewers and raise awareness about the challenges faced by lions in Africa and other wild cats around the world.

Driven by their commitment to wildlife protection, Hedren and Marshall set out to turn their vision into a reality. However, they soon encountered the first of the film’s many hurdles: they couldn’t secure enough Hollywood-trained lions for the ambitious scope of their film.

Undeterred, the couple decided to take an unconventional approach to the lion problem. They began rescuing and acquiring their own big cats, many of which came from circuses, zoos, or private owners. Among these was Neil, a 400-pound male who developed a close bond with the family. Neil lived in the couple’s home alongside their children, sleeping in their beds and playing with them by the pool. In 1971, Life magazine even featured Neil’s unusual relationship with the family in an article.

Like Neil, the other animals the couple acquired initially lived at the family’s home in Sherman Oaks, California. However, this quickly became problematic for the neighborhood. As a result, Hedren and Marshall built a dedicated compound in Soledad Canyon. At this compound, their lions lived alongside leopards, elephants, and tigers.

The Untamed Cast of Roar

The production of Roar ultimately used 150 untrained wild animals, including 132 big cats. The extensive cast also featured aoudad sheep, flamingos, ostriches, marabou storks, black swans, and elephants. This was a radical departure from traditional filmmaking practices, where even terrifying scenes typically featured highly trained animals accompanied by human handlers.

However, the animals in Roar had no such training or management. While some had coexisted with Hedren and Marshall, and others had prior exposure to humans in zoos, circuses, or private collections, none were prepared for interaction on a film set.

This lack of training meant the crew couldn’t simply direct the animals. Instead, they had to wait for the animals to act spontaneously, then attempt to capture these unscripted moments with eight cameras rolling simultaneously. Actors had to improvise their performances around the animals’ unpredictable behavior, which extended the production for several years.

The film claims that no animals were harmed during the ten years of filming, although tragically, a few did die. However, the same cannot be said for the human cast and crew. In her 2017 memoir, Tippi Hedren confessed, “I didn’t learn until many years later how naive and stupid we were.”

Hollywood’s Wild Animal Experiment

Using untrained — or even trained — wild animals on a film set is extremely dangerous, as dramatically evidenced in Roar. Lions, for example, are apex predators with powerful bodies, sharp teeth, and formidable claws. Their instincts drive them to stalk, chase, and pounce. Male lions, in particular, can be highly dominant, territorial, and even aggressive when they feel threatened. A lion’s behavior can also change quickly, suddenly shifting from rest or play to hunting or attack mode in an instant.

While lion attacks on humans are rare — lions typically avoid human-dominated areas — they will attack if cornered, threatened, or starving. Even a seemingly playful interaction with a lion can result in severe injury or death due to their immense size and strength.

Lions are social animals that live in prides. Interfering with their natural social dynamics by forcing unknown lions together, as seen on the set of Roar, can cause serious stress, confusion, and aggression among the animals.

Although lions were the most prominent animals in Roar, other creatures on set also posed serious threats. For instance, Tippi Hedren’s most severe injury resulted from an elephant.

Elephants, often seen as gentle giants, are actually remarkably powerful wild animals with complex emotions and high intelligence. They live in intricate social groups and form strong family bonds. Threatening these relationships can provoke aggression and defensive behaviors. Elephants are not naturally submissive and will not do anything they do not wish to do. Hedren’s injury occurred when she attempted to ride an elephant that did not want to participate, and it threw her off. Like lions, the sheer size and strength of an elephant mean that even a playful nudge or frustrated foot stomp could be fatal to a human.

The Price of Authenticity

Roar tells the story of a husband and wife, played by Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren, who live in a Tanzanian compound teeming with wild animals. Their adult children, portrayed by Marshall’s sons Jerry and John, and Hedren’s daughter, Melanie Griffith, travel from Chicago to visit their parents. Upon their arrival, they find their parents absent and must confront the house’s wild inhabitants alone. The film’s scenes oscillate between the dangerous, violent side of the animals and their affectionate bonds with the humans. The story maintains a lighthearted, comedic tone. However, it does not shy away from depicting the very real dangers of the family’s lifestyle.

Filmed in 1981, Roar relied on virtually no special effects, beyond some creative editing. This means that what you see on screen is exactly what was filmed. In many harrowing instances, the blood and injuries depicted were very much real.

Only a handful of crew members escaped the long production without injury, although they were regularly tackled by lions. Others were much less fortunate. Just a few weeks into filming, a lioness tore off part of cinematographer Jan De Bont’s scalp, which required 220 stitches. Remarkably, De Bont continued working on the set for another five years and later directed successful films like Twister and Speed.

The Actor’s Real-Life Wounds

Even the lead actors faced severe injuries. While filming Roar, a lion bit Hedren in the neck, necessitating 38 stitches. Later, an elephant bucked her off, resulting in a fractured leg and head wounds, ultimately requiring skin grafts and leading to a gangrene infection. Marshall suffered numerous bites, scratches, and attacks from lions, often downplaying the severity of his injuries. At one point, he was hospitalized after a bite to his leg caused gangrene. Melanie Griffith also sustained a serious injury when a lion accidentally scratched her face near her eye — a scene that was actually included in the final version of the film. The injury required 50 stitches and reconstructive surgery.

In total, an estimated 70 members of the cast and crew received serious injuries during Roar‘s production. As John Marshall explains on the film’s website, these injuries were not the animals’ fault but “the fault of the project.” He concludes, “If you do what the family did in the film, it’s not ‘if’ you’ll get bitten, it’s ‘when’!”

Rising from the Ashes as a Cult Classic

Filming Roar was an expensive and arduous endeavor, constantly derailed by unfortunate events, in addition to injuries to the cast and crew. Monsoon season repeatedly hit the set, leading to severe flooding and damaged fences. Several of the film’s lions escaped, and one was tragically shot by sheriff’s deputies. In addition, a mysterious feline disease killed half of the film’s feline co-stars.

Beyond the animal-related catastrophes, wildfires destroyed the ranch, forcing the crew to rebuild and then wait patiently for vegetation to regrow. These unforeseen setbacks, coupled with the challenges of working with 150 untrained wild animals, continuously extended both the filming time and the budget.

Sadly, Roar was a financial failure when it was first released. The film’s final cost had spiraled to approximately $17 million, yet it only recouped a fraction of that, with box office receipts reported as less than $2 million. Due to a lack of funding and support, the film received only a very limited theatrical release in the United States and quickly faded into obscurity.

However, in 2015, Roar was rediscovered by Drafthouse Films. The company re-released it and brought it to U.S. theaters, marketing it as a “cult film” and the “most dangerous film ever made.”

The Fate of the Animals in Roar

When filming was finally complete, the animals that appeared in Roar found a permanent home with Tippi Hedren, who later founded the Shambala Preserve in Acton, California. Hedren’s deep connection with these animals led her to dedicate her life to their protection. According to the Preserve, “Shambala” is a Sanskrit word that means “a meeting place of peace and harmony for all beings, animal and human.” In 1983, Hedren also established the Roar Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps to raise funds for the Preserve. Hedren herself lives at the Preserve and continues to advocate for wild animal care and protection.

The Shambala Preserve is an 80-acre sanctuary dedicated to providing a home for exotic animals that have been neglected or mistreated. Shambala is primarily home to big cat species such as leopards, lions, and tigers. While it initially housed 150 big cats, today there are only nine. Most of these animals are confiscated or abandoned exotic pets or former circus performers.

Caring for these magnificent big cats is an enormous undertaking, as they need large amounts of meat and extensive space. They also require complex fencing to ensure the safety of both the animals and the people who visit or work there.

The Preserve’s main goal is to offer these animals a lifelong home, as they often end up as neglected exotic pets through no fault of their own. Beyond the cats’ direct care, Shambala also educates the public about these incredible animals and champions their protection.

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