Trailer Park Tuesdays - Roar

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesdays.  This week we're looking at the movie trailer for Roar (1981), not a new movie, but an old movie that is now being released for the first time in the U.S.

Roar is quite possible the most irresponsible movie ever made.  Producer Noel Marshall and his wife Tippi Hedren (star of The Birds) set out to make a film that would bring exposure to big cats and their plight in Africa from game hunters, as well as to the inhumane treatment of big cats in captivity...or something.  They would do this by using the hundreds of wild lions, tigers, and other cats and animals that the couple had gathered and used to populate their animal sanctuary located north of Los Angeles.

This (crazy) idea was first (ill)conceived in 1970 and after the success of The Exorcist (which Marshall produced and made a lot of money from) they started filming in 1974.  Things did not go well as the cats proved unpredictable and unable to take direction.  This led to as many as 70 members of the cast and crew getting attacked or harmed while making this movie!

Noel Marshall was bit and clawed multiple times, Tippi fell off an elephant and broke her leg, and their daughter, Melanie Griffith, who was just starting her acting career, suffered facial lacerations and needed reconstructive surgery and 100 stitches.  Not to be outdone, director of photography Jan De Bont (future director of Speed and Twister) was SCALPED by a lion and required over 200 stitches!

Not surprisingly, the film took a total of 11 years to make and when it was finally released in 1981, it was only done so overseas and not here in America.  Until now. . . .

Drafthouse Films has acquired the film and has been releasing it in various cities the past couple weeks.  Check out HERE for full details on where you can see this amazing motion picture.  If you're like me and you live in or near Portland, Oregon, you can see Roar this weekend, May 2nd and 3rd, at the great Hollywood Theatre.

Here's the amazing and dangerous trailer:

This movie looks INSANE!  I've been looking forward to it greatly.  It looks like a visceral and surreal experience, a real jaw-dropper!

For more info on this crazy story, read THIS from Drafthouse Films founder Tim League, THIS blog post from crew member Randolph Sellars, and watch this piece from CBS This Morning.