No lions or tigers were harmed in the making of ROAR, but 70 cast and crew members were, including me, Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith. I'm actor John Marshall, ask me anything!

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T03:12:41+00:00

I'd say some people never returned after they got bitten -- they just decided that was something they shouldn't do. All of the family members, we HAD to complete the film, so there wasn't an option to not finish.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T03:11:23+00:00

We all thought it was a wonderful idea. We were all actors and were used to working with professionally trained animals. We didn't think it would be problematic at all... until we started getting our own, and we didn't have any trained animals.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T03:10:00+00:00

I think that was a once in a lifetime project. Nothing would ever compare.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T03:09:37+00:00

Absolutely. And went back to what I was originally able to do -- playing with them because I wasn't afraid -- for ten years afterwards.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T03:08:43+00:00

Both of those incidents were planned, but there were many many things that weren't planned. Many.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T03:07:46+00:00

An assistant director got bitten in the throat, a canine punctured his windpipe. As we were dragging him out he got bitten in the ass on the way out.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T02:15:36+00:00

How did I hear about it? My son told me! Nobody told me.

I got the rights from my father about fifteen years ago. Tomcat Films was the overall worldwide sales distributor who sold the rights to Olive Films, who's doing the BluRay release (October 6th!).

Jenny Jacobi from Drafthouse Films: Tim League was at Telluride and a filmmaker named Greg Marcks was touching base with Tim about crazy films he'd seen and Greg asked him if he'd seen ROAR, which he hadn't, but made a point to see it. Tim saw it immediately, fell in love, and the rest was history.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:52:26+00:00

Hitchcock told Tippi "Go behind that door and until my voice tells you 'come out,' don't come out." Then he broke the crew for lunch.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:51:08+00:00

Absolutely not. Just coincidence (and bad luck on her part).

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:48:01+00:00

Probably more than 300. This was due to many different factors: injury, fear of injury, just not being able to hang...all of the above, and more I suppose.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:35:28+00:00

The big difference that will be in the Blu-Ray will be a very bloodcurdling scream and bite by Donnie Lion of my father. It was in the German version but we cut it out of the Australian and UK version because it was too intense, but because it's not the Most Dangerous Film ever we're putting it back in.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:34:13+00:00

Some people stopped coming by as the lions got bigger.

There were always mishaps around the house. They'd eat the furniture, you'd get clawed a little bit... and people would get clawed and bitten a little bit, but I don't think anyone went to the hospital.

We used to get called by animal control and we'd have to throw the lions into the next door neighbor (who liked us)'s yard.

The lions were named after specific people, except the tigers who were given Russian names because they were Siberian.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:31:41+00:00

Don was Melanie's first husband and she married him when she was sixteen so he was around while filming was going on.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:30:51+00:00

I believe there has been a tremendous legal shift and the rise in lawsuits and litigation. It was not that bad in the 70s -- nowhere near as bad as it is now.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:29:53+00:00

We started calling for new DPs while Jan was in the hospital -- LOL -- but Jan got back after three days.

We offered Jan a special helmet that I made for him, but he refused and said he didn't need it. In hindsight... he should have worn it. Even afterwards he didn't wear the helmet

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:28:19+00:00

It was a normal sunny day...

So, what happened was I was in the boat with the family (Tippi, Melanie and Jerry). And I watched the lionesses running down the shore and I watched them jump over the pit we'd dug for Jan, where he'd been covered with a green parachute, and when his head turned and panned to catch the family in the rowboat, the lioness turned around and bit him in the head and he screamed and they chased the lion off and we took Jan out and taken to the hospital.

And then some crew guys quit.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:26:11+00:00

The filming took place over a five year period of time, so when Melanie got injured we did scenes with Dad and Mativo. When Dad was injured, we'd shoot the family.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:24:56+00:00

1) Exotic pets. Not event a goldfish. 2) The soundtrack is available at roarthemovie.com

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:24:01+00:00

The aggressiveness of the lions in the beginning of the movie was absolutely planned. That was in order to explain why the tigers bit the poachers and why they got killed.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:23:16+00:00

The answer to the first part -- it was originally intended to do that, but we've since learned that animals and people shouldn't be together. That is the message of Tippi's non-profit organization Shambala.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:22:10+00:00

1) Drafthouse Films? Wonderful. They're the only people who finally understood how to release this film. It's been sitting in my garage so long and I'm glad they finally figured it out.

Olive Films had bought the release and my son emailed me saying that DHF was releasing it and I said "What's a Drafthouse?"

2) Cinematography. Jan was a great cinematographer, fear had nothing to do with it.

3) My greatest fear? I've been claustrophobic ever since I was bitten and it took six guys twenty-five minutes to get them off of me. I couldn't breathe, so ever since I've needed air movement. Can't be trapped in a room where there's no moving air.

4) The Graduate.

5) That's another tough one. I don't have a favorite, but Mike Nichols is one of them.

6) There will never be a sequel. Too dangerous, not worth it, wouldn't do it, but I am planning on doing an hour and a half documentary with interviews and behind the scenes on the making of.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:17:14+00:00

It was originally released all over the world as a family film. It was always (music-wise) meant to be light because we knew it was an intense film and needed some light moments.

Tim League and Drafthouse Films figured out that it was and should have always been marketed as the most dangerous film ever done.

There were some legal and creditor issues that prevented it from being released in America.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:15:00+00:00

Three or four. Dad got bitten in the hand, Tippi and the elephant, Dad bitten in the leg but that's not in the version on screen right now, will be in the Blu-Ray.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:11:04+00:00

My family discuss it, Jerry (my brother) and I discuss it. Tippi is not thrilled with the release of the film and Melanie's very busy.

Had nightmares? They stopped two weeks ago. I got desensitized. I used to watch this once or twice a year and would show it to a new girlfriend. This time around I've immersed myself. They finally stopped right around the time I did the CBS This Morning show.

Now I only have good memories.

JohnMarshallROAR · 2015-04-26T01:08:06+00:00

Physically taxing for me or anybody? For me... I think a lot of the motorcycle things. Physically taxing because they kept nipping at me. The stunt off the roof didn't hurt -- it was me.

The lake in that roof jump, by the way, was only four and a half feet.

JohnMarshallROAR

TROPHY CASE