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“Roar”: The Most Dangerous Film Ever Made

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Drafthouse Films and Olive Films are re-releasing the cult hit and rarely seen 1981 movie “Roar” in theaters on April 17. “Roar” has been touted as a movie like no other, and one that will never be made again. The tagline reads, “No animals were harmed in the making of this picture, 70 cast and crew members were”.

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The movie follows estranged wife Madelaine (Tippi Hedren) who visits her husband (Noel Marshall); a man living on a refuge with a menagerie of wild beasts. These animals include tigers, elephants, leopards and cheetahs. She arrives at the sanctuary with her 3 children (A young Melanie Griffith among them), but her husband is nowhere to be found, instead she is met by a pride of lions and untamed beasts.

The intrigue of “Roar” is that it was even made in the first place. Produced by Noel Marshall (“The Exorcist”), the movie is filled with cringe-worthy shadenfruede, which depicts animal attacks and maulings. The problem is, some of these altercations are real. Although this movie is a big-budget Hollywood production, it could also be viewed as a documentary of sorts. The concept was to let the cats interact naturally with the cast and crew. But these animals aren’t predictable; at 8 feet long and up to 400 pounds these cats act purely on improvisation.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gIKo7Me2lrA/ULoc9WJ6jkI/AAAAAAAAMes/tgFzqT079JE/s400/roar+crowd.jpg

Photo credit: Drafthouse Pictures

 

 

 

 

Of the blood shed on the set: Hedren was injured from a bite wound, which wasn’t edited out for the movie. Producer Noel Marshall was hospitalized for a very terrifying lion attack, and a young Cinematographer named Jon De Bont (Speed, The Haunting) was scalped during filming and needed 120 stitches. Assistant Director Doran Kauper was bitten in the throat during a take and it almost cost him his life. Melanie Griffin (Hedren’s real-life daugher) suffered such a major laceration, it required plastic surgery.

Photo credit: Drafthouse Pictures

 

Tim League, CEO of Drafthouse Films, has written an essay about the film, the cast, and the constant disasters that plagued the picture. His essay titled “The Grandeur of Roar” describes animal professional’s reaction to Hedren’s and Marshall’s pitch for the film, “Upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were told their idea was a suicide mission and were dismissed as ‘brainsick’ and ‘completely and utterly insane.’“ League writes.

Jon De Bont suffered a lion's mauling during "Roar"

Jon De Bont suffered a lion’s mauling during “Roar”. Photo credit: Drafthouse Pictures

 

 

IMDb reports that the animal attacks in “Roar” are real. Over 150 cats were used in the film, the crew had to remain behind safety cages and protective barriers, but sometimes that wasn’t enough. Leagues’ article says that Hedren and Marshall had been breeding the lions in their Beverly Hills home until it became too small and they moved to a ranch north of Los Angeles and began shooting “Roar”.

Despite the danger of working with such unpredictable wildlife, Mother Nature also took its toll on the production. The Southern California filming location suffered Wildfires and a flood, killing some of the cats and bringing production to a halt. The problems were so severe the movie took 11 years to complete.

Utterly Terrifying ROAR, Starring Tippi Hedren & Melanie Griffith, Joins Pride Of Drafthouse Films

Photo credit: Drafthouse Pictures

 

Variety has called “Roar” the “most disaster-plagued film in the history of Hollywood.”

Tippi Hedren has been quoted as saying,”This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen. It’s amazing no one was killed.”

Recent reviews of the film have compared it to what might be a bloody production of a Walt Disney film.

It’s like Walt Disney went insane and made a snuff version of SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON!” Hitflix

“Just watching it feels dangerous!” Movies.com

“Like watching a live-action Lion King as Mufasa holds a switchblade to your throat.” – Complex

The movie will have a theatrical re-release on April, 17, head over to Drafthouse Pictures for more details.

 

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

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The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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