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'Most Dangerous Film Ever Made' Roars Again

It has been dubbed the most dangerous film ever made but now ‘Roar’, starring Tippi Hedren and her lions, is being re-released.

Seventy members of the cast and crew were injured during the making of the film, which also features the actress’ daughter Melanie Griffith and 150 big cats and elephants.

‘Roar’ was first released in 1981 and was the brainchild of Alfred Hitchcock muse Hedren and her then-husband, Exorcist producer Noel Marshall.

The story follows a wildlife conservationist and his family who are attacked in their home by the animals.

Most of the film has the cast running and hiding in fear as they narrowly escape the all too real danger.

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Dozens of scenes show full grown lions chasing the actors, pawing at their faces and even wrestling them to the ground.

Many wounds were well-documented in press coverage at the time and also in Hedren’s 1985 book The Cats of Shambala, referring to her Shambala Preserve north of Los Angeles, where Roar was filmed.

Above: Melanie Griffith, front, and Tippi Hedren in a scene from the film, ‘Roar.’

In one instance, Hedren was bitten on the back of the head by a lion.
She also suffered fractures and skin grafts after being thrown by an elephant.

Then-teenager Melanie Griffith - who quit the project for a time because she didn’t want to come out of it with “half a face,” according to her mother - returned to the set, only to be mauled and clawed by a lion.

Marshall, who wrote, directed and starred in the film, suffered so many bites, including a few that made the final cut, that he was eventually stricken with gangrene.

Above: Melanie Griffith and a huge lion

And Dutch cinematographer Jan de Bont, in his first US shoot, required 120 stitches after being scalped by a lion.

Hedren, 85, has since admitted that the story is flimsy and has said she is “not thrilled” with the re-release due to the “inaccuracies”.

She said: “There are too many for me to even begin to comment.”

The film cost $17m to make but only took $2m when it was first released.

‘Roar’ is on limited release in the US from 17 April.

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Image credits: Drafthouse Films/Olive Films via AP/HitFix/ET Online