'Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made' Charges Into Theaters

“No animals were harmed during the making of Roar. But 70 members of the cast and crew were.” So claims a trailer for the theatrical re-release of a little-seen 1981 adventure film starring Tippi Hedren, daughter Melanie Griffith and 150 lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and elephants.

Touted as the most dangerous movie ever made, Roar was the ill-fated brainchild of Alfred Hitchcock muse Hedren and her then-husband, Exorcist producer Noel Marshall. Years past schedule and millions over budget, Hollywood eventually lost interest in Roar and the film was never released in North America.

Now, 34 years later, Drafthouse Films is giving Roar its big-screen due, re-releasing it in six theaters nationwide on Friday, then expanding it to about 50 cities through May. A DVD release is planned for later this summer.

The story loosely follows a wildlife preservationist whose family comes to visit him and is attacked in their home by the animals. Most of the film has the cast running and hiding in fear as they narrowly escape the all too real danger. Dozens of scenes show full grown lions chasing the actors, pawing at their faces and even wrestling them to the ground.

While the exact number of on-set injuries remains a point of contention, the Roar shoot was an OSHA nightmare. Many wounds were well-documented in press coverage at the time and also in Hedren’s 1985 book The Cats of Shambala, referring to her Shambala Preserve north of Los Angeles, where Roar was filmed.

In one instance, Hedren was bitten on the back of the head by a lion. She also suffered fractures and skin grafts after being thrown by an elephant. Then-teenager Melanie Griffith — who quit the project for a time because she didn’t want to come out of it with “half a face,” according to her mother — returned to the set, only to be mauled and clawed by a lion.

Marshall, who wrote, directed and starred in the film, suffered so many bites, including a few that made the final cut, that he was eventually stricken with gangrene. And Dutch cinematographer Jan de Bont, in his first U.S. shoot, required 120 stitches after being scalped by a lion.

“I got bit really bad early on,” said Noel Marshall’s son, John Marshall, who wore many hats on set in addition to acting in the film. He recalled a harrowing moment when a male lion latched onto his head. It took six men 25 minutes to separate the two. That encounter required 56 stitches.

“It was a very traumatic bite. But I went back two days later,” he said.