thread 1/5: back in the mid 70s, director noel marshall & actor tippi hedren got 71 lions, 26 tigers, 9 black panthers, 10 cougars, 2 jaguars & 4 leopards & made a comedy called ROAR. it took 11 years to finish, and over 70 of the 130 cast & crew were injured while making it

thread 2/5: for example, tippi was bitten in the head by a lion, and noel (who also acted in it) had his hand bitten all the way through. he also got eight puncture wounds on his leg. melanie griffith (!) got 50 stitches after being attacked by a lioness, almost losing her eye

thread 3/5: the crew didn't fare any better than the actors: cinematographer jan de bont was scalped by a lion called "cherries", and a lead lion called "togar" bit assistant director doron kauper in the throat & tried to pull off one of his ears

thread 4/5: anyway, the whole thing was a fucking disaster. at once point the whole set flooded and 15 lions and tigers escaped. the sheriff killed three lions, including the lead. estimated cost of the flood and rebuild: $3 million

thread 5/5: despite being a very american film - it premiered in australia in october 1981. it didn't do very well: with a $17 million budget, it took in about $2 million on release. wild, wild stuff. you can read about it more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/roar_(film)