Forgotten Gruesome $17M Comedy Left At Least 70 People Injured, Only to Flop Completely
No animals were harmed on set, but what about humans?
There is no doubt that the filmmaking industry can be full of dangers.
While working with a lot of hard and heavy equipment, dangerous stunts, and extreme circumstances, anyone could be potentially harmed and injured in the process.
That is exactly why the industry tries to take safety protocols very seriously, cautious of the lives and health of the cast and crew working on each movie.
Unfortunate incidents still happen even on sets of the most expensive productions. In the earlier days, they happened even more frequently.
However, nothing can possibly compete with Roar: an 80s film that was supposed to be a comedy but ended up hurting at least 70 people on set.
It is impossible to call this movie anything but a mix of unfortunate ideas.
Meant to be a love letter to wild nature and a public plea to save it, the film was in production for 11 years: from the idea began in 1970 up to its 1981 international release.
The film was written and directed by Noel Marshall, and he also starred in it along with his wife Tippi Hedren, and their three children.
Besides, the production was completed by around 100 wild cats, all of whom lived right on Marshall's property.
Needless to say, cats, along with some other wild animals who were needed on set, were not properly trained and clueless about what they were doing half of the time.
This cost cast and crew many injuries and stitches, the most notable incident being a tiger taking cinematographer Jan de Bont's scalp and leaving him in need of more than 200 stitches.
Of course, those who were lucky to remain unharmed were leaving the production team extremely quickly after witnessing such gruesome scenes, so the turnover rate was going through the roof.
With the ambitious budget of $17M and the costs of caring for all the animals on their property, Marshall was going bankrupt.
The family had to sell 4 of their houses to pay the debts, however, the director believed that Roar would be a success, able to fix their financial situation.
Unfortunately, he was wrong, and upon its release in 1981, Roar managed to get only $2M in the international office.
It was re-released later in 2015, finally getting the desired recognition.
Source: The New Yorker