Roar is a 1981 American adventure comedy film written and directed by Noel Marshall. Its plot follows Hank, a naturalist who lives on a nature preserve in Africa with lions, leopards, tigers, and other big cats. When his family visits him, they are instead confronted by the group of animals. The film stars Marshall as Hank, his real-life wife Tippi Hedren as his wife Madeleine, with Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith and Marshall's sons John and Jerry Marshall in supporting roles.
In 1969, while Hedren was filming Satan's Harvest in Mozambique, she and Marshall had occasion to observe a pride of lions move into a recently vacated house, driven by increased poaching. They decided to make a film centered around that theme, with production starting when the first script was completed in 1970. They began bringing rescued big cats into their homes in California and living with them. Filming began in 1976; it was finished after five years. The film was fully completed after 11 years in production.
Roar was not initially released in North America. Instead, in 1981, Noel and John Marshall released it internationally. It was also acquired by Filmways Pictures and Alpha Films. Despite performing well in Germany and Japan, Roar was a box office failure, grossing $2 million worldwide against a $17 million budget. In 2015, 34 years after the film's original release, it was released in theaters in the United States by Drafthouse Films. Roar message of protection for African wildlife as well as its animal interactions were praised by critics, but its plot, story, inconsistent tone, dialogue, and editing were criticized.
During production, the cast and crew members faced dangerous situations: 72 people, including the film's stars, were injured in attacks from the untrained animals on set. Flooding from a dam destroyed much of the set and equipment, dramatically increasing the film's budget. In 1983, Hedren founded the Roar Foundation and established the Shambala Preserve sanctuary, to house the animals appearing in the film. She also wrote a book, The Cats of Shambala (1985), about the events that took place during its production. The film has been described as "the most dangerous film ever made" and "the most expensive home movie ever made", and has gained a cult following.
Plot American naturalist Hank lives on a nature preserve in Tanzania with a collection of big cats to study their behavior. Although he is due to pick up his wife Madeleine and their children John, Jerry, and Melanie from the airport to bring them to his home, he is delayed by his friend Mativo, warning him that a committee is coming to review his grant. As he shows Mativo around his ranch and the rest of the preserve while they wait, Hank explains the nature of the lion pride and their fear of Togar, a rogue lion who often quarrels with the pride's leader, Robbie. Hank asks Mativo to help keep the pride safe.
The grant committee arrives. One of its members, Prentiss, disapproves of the big cats and threatens to shoot them. A fight between two lions distracts Hank; he breaks it up despite having his hand bitten. While Hank is bandaging his hand, the tigers attack members of the committee and injure some of them, and, although Hank offers assistance, they leave in fear. Mativo expresses his concerns over another attack when Hank brings his family to the ranch. As they leave for the airport on Mativo's boat, two tigers jump aboard, traveling with them. Mativo steers into a log in the water, causing the craft to sink. The two men swim to safety.
Madeleine, John, Jerry, and Melanie are advised by an airport attendant, Lenord, to board a bus. They arrive at the ranch and enter the house, realizing that it has been left unattended. When Madeleine and Jerry open the windows and doors, they are shocked to see the lions eating a zebra carcass in front of the house. The family are frightened when animals enter the house and try to escape but Togar pursues them. Jerry finds a rifle and tries to shoot Togar while he is fighting Robbie. Melanie fears that her father has been killed by the animals.
Hank and Mativo—still pursued by the tigers—take two bikes from a local village. To prevent the tigers from following Hank to the airport, Mativo climbs a tree and distracts them. Hank encounters the airport attendant, who tells him that his family have taken the bus to his ranch. Hank drives back in Lenord's car and rescues Mativo from the tree. One of the car's tires is punctured on a rocky road, and Hank runs to the ranch while Mativo fends off the tigers with an umbrella.
The following morning, the family board Hank's boat to try to escape, but an elephant pulls the craft back to shore and destroys it. John goes for help on Hank's motorcycle, but he is chased by the big cats, and drives into the lake. After escaping another elephant, the family swims across the lake and find another house that they use to sleep in. When they awake, they find themselves surrounded by the pride and conclude that, since they are still alive, the animals do not intend to hurt them.
Prentiss tries to persuade the committee to hunt down and kill Hank's lions. Though he is unsuccessful, he and Rick, another committee member, shoot many of the big cats anyway. Eventually Togar attacks them and although Hank sees the assault and tries to intervene, the lion kills Prentiss and Rick before returning to the house to battle Robbie. Robbie stands up to Togar and the fight ends. Hank arrives at the ranch to find his family waiting for him. Mativo arrives, and Hank asks him not to mention Prentiss or Rick's death; he is introduced to Hank's family, who agree to stay for the week.
Cast Tippi Hedren as Madeleine, Hank's wife who leads the family from Chicago to Hank's preserve. Hedren is a professional actress; she played the lead character in Alfred Hitchcock's films The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). She has also completed a few films in Africa. Melanie Griffith as Melanie, the daughter of Hank and Madeleine. Griffith's promising career, appearing in the films Night Moves, The Drowning Pool, and Smile (all made in 1975) warranted her inclusion from Marshall and Hedren in the film. She quit during the early stages of production and was replaced by her friend, actress Patsy Nedd. Griffith later expressed interest in the film again and reshot all of her required scenes. Noel Marshall as Hank, a naturalist who lives alongside numerous animals in Africa. Despite his lack of experience with writing and acting, Marshall, in addition to producing, directing, and financing the film, had lived with the big cats for years and understood their behavior. In Hedren's opinion, he had developed a relationship with their animals and displayed a much-needed confidence and bravery when handling them, making him the best and only plausible choice to her as Hank. John Marshall as John, the eldest son of Hank and Madeleine. John Marshall is Noel Marshall's middle son and has acted in small television roles from the age of five. Jerry Marshall as Jerry, the youngest son of Hank and Madeleine. Jerry Marshall is Noel Marshall's youngest son and had, like his brother, been cast in a small number of commercials but has not acted in film and television as much as John and Melanie. Kyalo Mativo as Mativo, Hank's friend and assistant zoologist. Born in Kenya, Mativo (who died on June 7, 2021) was a Kamba, and was chosen over two other men, one Senegalese and one Nigerian. He was majoring in film at UCLA, held a PhD in Developmental Journalism, wrote and directed for Voice of Kenya, and had previously acted in two German short films before taking the role, under stipulation that he "only be with those animals while [we're] filming". Expert and experienced animal trainers such as Frank Tom, Steve Miller and Rick Glassey were given acting parts as committee members attacked by tigers. Will Hutchins portrays a man in a rowboat and Zakes Mokae plays a committee member. The untrained lions Robbie, his offspring Gary, and Togar are all credited as actors.
Production Development
Roar was conceived by husband and wife Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren in 1969. Marshall was Hedren's talent agent while she starred in Satan's Harvest, which was filmed in Mozambique. Near the film set, they came across an abandoned plantation house in Gorongosa National Park which had been overrun by a pride of lions, and were told by their bus guide and local residents that animal populations were becoming endangered due to poaching; this inspired them to consider making either one or a series of films.
Marshall and Hedren discussed the film with their family (Melanie Griffith, Joel, John, and Jerry Marshall), who liked the idea and agreed to participate as actors, except Joel, who preferred to be the art director and set decorator. Marshall and Hedren visited animal preserves in their free time and talked to lion experts. They learned they would have to film in the United States, as tame lions were rare in Africa. A number of lion tamers warned that it was impossible to bring a large number of big cats together on a film set. Other tamers, such as animal trainer Ron Oxley—who brought a lion named Neil over to introduce the family to big cats—suggested that they obtain their own animals, give them basic training, and gradually introduce them to each other. The Marshalls developed ideas for funding the project and estimated that the film would be completed on a budget of $3 million.
Pre-production Marshall wrote the first script for the project in the spring of 1970, and gave it the working title Lions; later, he changed it to Lions, Lions and More Lions. He also enlisted the assistance of actor and voice artist Ted Cassidy, with whom he had co-written and produced The Harrad Experiment. The original script allowed for up to thirty or forty trained lions. Marshall was also inspired by Mack Sennett's slapstick routines, and decided to incorporate a mixture of comedy, drama, and moments of "stark terror" in the human and animal encounters, with an underlying message of the need for the preservation of African wildlife. Scenes where animals chase after the characters required that the actors pretend to be scared and scream, in order to trigger a reaction from the animals. The script developed with frequent changes but always allowing for inclusion of spontaneous actions by the animals, such as playing with the family's boat or riding a skateboard. This led some of the lions to be credited as writers.