What could go wrong?
April 18, 2015 10:33 AM Subscribe
The family shows up at Hank’s house unaware that they’ll be sharing it with assorted wildlife whose collective attitude toward humans ranges from playful to scarily aggressive. Oh, and all the animals are real, and largely untrained, and when they paw and pounce on their human costars, you can see real terror in the actors’ eyes — like actual Oh shit please God no terror.The making of Roar, possibly the Most Dangerous Movie of All Time.
"Now those are real lions, people! So I want to see goggles!"
posted by boo_radley at 10:41 AM on April 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by boo_radley at 10:41 AM on April 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is the most dumbass filming event I've seen since Timothy Treadwell. I just. I have worked with wild animals and I have worked with domestic animals and holy shit, I am still so astonished no one was killed.
What always worries me when reading about Roar is what happened to the adult cats that were too big for filming. They say they had up to 150 cats at one point and also that they didn't have enough food to feed them all sometimes and they talk about "well, by the time it occurred to us what were tigers doing here, we had the tigers and they were cute." They sound totally unprepared for the reality of handling these animals, and they were unprepared. And you know, this maybe couldn't happen in California now, but it absolutely could happen in a state like Texas where there are very, very minimal laws regulating the keeping of exotic animals. And what happens there is that people get in over their heads, they realize they can't do this and that it is not tenable to manage a big wild animal like this, and then the animal winds up--where? Usually nowhere good. The sanctuaries are full because of people like this. There's a pretty good documentary on the problem right now on Netflix, actually, called The Elephant In My Living Room.
Just. Fuck. These poor cats. At least the humans had the option of realizing this is a dumbass idea and getting the fuck out of there. I'm betting quite a few of the cats bred for this movie wound up in canned hunts or other unsavory ends.
posted by sciatrix at 10:48 AM on April 18, 2015 [13 favorites]
What always worries me when reading about Roar is what happened to the adult cats that were too big for filming. They say they had up to 150 cats at one point and also that they didn't have enough food to feed them all sometimes and they talk about "well, by the time it occurred to us what were tigers doing here, we had the tigers and they were cute." They sound totally unprepared for the reality of handling these animals, and they were unprepared. And you know, this maybe couldn't happen in California now, but it absolutely could happen in a state like Texas where there are very, very minimal laws regulating the keeping of exotic animals. And what happens there is that people get in over their heads, they realize they can't do this and that it is not tenable to manage a big wild animal like this, and then the animal winds up--where? Usually nowhere good. The sanctuaries are full because of people like this. There's a pretty good documentary on the problem right now on Netflix, actually, called The Elephant In My Living Room.
Just. Fuck. These poor cats. At least the humans had the option of realizing this is a dumbass idea and getting the fuck out of there. I'm betting quite a few of the cats bred for this movie wound up in canned hunts or other unsavory ends.
posted by sciatrix at 10:48 AM on April 18, 2015 [13 favorites]
At least the humans had the option of realizing this is a dumbass idea
The adults, at least.
posted by Artw at 10:52 AM on April 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
The adults, at least.
posted by Artw at 10:52 AM on April 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
At least the humans had the option of realizing this is a dumbass idea
Even trained humans (A DVM fer chrissakes!) can be remarkably stupid in that regard.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:00 AM on April 18, 2015
Even trained humans (A DVM fer chrissakes!) can be remarkably stupid in that regard.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:00 AM on April 18, 2015
Looks more like a home movie. A incredibly expensive hyper-self-indulgent home movie but well, everyone needs a hobby. But probably, except for the omg shots, boring.
posted by sammyo at 12:03 PM on April 18, 2015
posted by sammyo at 12:03 PM on April 18, 2015
"and all of a sudden it became slightly a lot more dangerous"
posted by lefty lucky cat at 12:52 PM on April 18, 2015
posted by lefty lucky cat at 12:52 PM on April 18, 2015
What might have been a goofy Swiss Family Robinson romp is complicated and rendered both hilarious and terrifying by Marshall’s total commitment to verisimilitude.
Funny they should mention that movie, because there were all kind of animal stunts you couldn't get away with today, like a zebra getting electric shocks. Also the little kid got stepped on by an elephant, but due to some lucky hydrodynamics in the surf he didn't get squarshed.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:04 PM on April 18, 2015
Funny they should mention that movie, because there were all kind of animal stunts you couldn't get away with today, like a zebra getting electric shocks. Also the little kid got stepped on by an elephant, but due to some lucky hydrodynamics in the surf he didn't get squarshed.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:04 PM on April 18, 2015
So this is the movie Timothy Treadwell would have made if Werner Herzog hadn't had to make it for him amirite?
posted by localroger at 2:32 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by localroger at 2:32 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Funny they should mention that movie, because there were all kind of animal stunts you couldn't get away with today
As a child, I once rode on the back of an elephant with my mom and sister in the parking lot of a Smith's Home Furnishings, as part of a store promotion. This would have been around 1982. I can't imagine anything like that happening today.
posted by chrchr at 3:06 PM on April 18, 2015
As a child, I once rode on the back of an elephant with my mom and sister in the parking lot of a Smith's Home Furnishings, as part of a store promotion. This would have been around 1982. I can't imagine anything like that happening today.
posted by chrchr at 3:06 PM on April 18, 2015
Huh, I was sure the local zoo still had elephant rides, but apparently not. There's been several fatal incidents at zoos involving elephant rides around the country. (no photos/videos)
posted by desjardins at 3:21 PM on April 18, 2015
posted by desjardins at 3:21 PM on April 18, 2015
Yeah, paraphrasing my rant in the previous thread about this movie:
Fuck that idiot asshole, and any legal, societal, or moral structure that didn't prevent or stop him from actively abusing and endangering the animals, his family, and his employees.
posted by cmoj at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Fuck that idiot asshole, and any legal, societal, or moral structure that didn't prevent or stop him from actively abusing and endangering the animals, his family, and his employees.
posted by cmoj at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
... all of a sudden it became slightly a lot more dangerous.
I love this part of a sentence. It's so human.
posted by srboisvert at 4:20 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love this part of a sentence. It's so human.
posted by srboisvert at 4:20 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Um, it's a wonderful subject, but why isn't this a double?
posted by IAmBroom at 4:57 PM on April 18, 2015
posted by IAmBroom at 4:57 PM on April 18, 2015
Well, the Grantland article is new, but we did just discuss it last month, so a bit of a wash double-wise.
posted by dhartung at 5:44 PM on April 18, 2015
posted by dhartung at 5:44 PM on April 18, 2015
Actually, now that I think about it, I would loooove to see the movie Werner Herzog would have made from the footage shot for Roar.
posted by localroger at 6:29 PM on April 18, 2015
posted by localroger at 6:29 PM on April 18, 2015
To better understand this movie and the convoluted thinking of the humans involved, I highly recommend another movie, The Elephant in the Living Room, which is an excellent examination of people who choose to live with exotics. If you have Netflix you can watch it at the link above. Else.
posted by Toekneesan at 6:53 PM on April 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Toekneesan at 6:53 PM on April 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
We were raising them in Sherman Oaks. I think we probably raised 30 of them in the house. I lived there for maybe a year and a half when we were raising them ... typically, at home, there were no lions over 8 months old and 150 pounds or something.
That's starting to make sense, since previous articles mentioned the lions living at their Hollywood mansion, and I had trouble imagining how that could be true. So, Ok, it was just the baby lions. But 30 is still an insane number, and 150 lbs. is still pretty huge. I still have trouble imagining it. The logistics of the pissing and shitting are particularly hard to fit into a good hypothetical. In my mind lion piss must be like cat piss only super-sized ... and anything that it touches needs to be jettisoned into space, because the awfulness will never die.
posted by dgaicun at 7:04 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
That's starting to make sense, since previous articles mentioned the lions living at their Hollywood mansion, and I had trouble imagining how that could be true. So, Ok, it was just the baby lions. But 30 is still an insane number, and 150 lbs. is still pretty huge. I still have trouble imagining it. The logistics of the pissing and shitting are particularly hard to fit into a good hypothetical. In my mind lion piss must be like cat piss only super-sized ... and anything that it touches needs to be jettisoned into space, because the awfulness will never die.
posted by dgaicun at 7:04 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
since previous articles mentioned the lions living at their Hollywood mansion, and I had trouble imagining how that could be true. So, Ok, it was just the baby lions. But 30 is still an insane number, and 150 lbs. is still pretty huge. I still have trouble imagining it.
Kevin Smith tells a story about how Prince is surrounded by people who are paid to not say "No" to him, so... 'Divers alarums and excursions' as they say... I totally understand how these things happen.
posted by mikelieman at 7:22 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Kevin Smith tells a story about how Prince is surrounded by people who are paid to not say "No" to him, so... 'Divers alarums and excursions' as they say... I totally understand how these things happen.
posted by mikelieman at 7:22 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
I much prefer this 'humans & lions' story.
Caution: may put things in eyes, lumps in throats, wobbles in chins.
posted by quinndexter at 9:21 PM on April 18, 2015
Caution: may put things in eyes, lumps in throats, wobbles in chins.
posted by quinndexter at 9:21 PM on April 18, 2015
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