While Hedren and her husband Marshall were filming in Africa in 1969, they stormed upon a rejected house home to some lions. This inspired the couple to create a movie which helped in promoting the preservation of the endangered species.
Hedren went ahead to produce and feature in Roar with her husband, Noel Marshall, who originally wrote and directed the movie in 1981. Afterwhich in 1983, she began the Roar Foundation, which finances and supports the animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserves in California.
Marshall wrote the movie; it was rooted in their experience; they accidental stumbled upon lions, tigers and other wild cats in a research park.
During an interaction with animal trainer Ron Oxley, he advised them, “to get to know anything about lions; you’ve just got to live with them for a while.” This prompted the family to start to live with Neil, the 400-pound (180 kg) mature lion.
In 1971, Life Magazine documented the weird living lifestyle. Michael Rougier took photographs to show how Niel (the lion) loved living alongside Hedren and her family, from sharing the bed to hanging by the poolside.
As a result of complaints from their neighbours, Hedren and Marshall acquired a ranch in Acton, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. After they were granted permission, they began rescuing lions, tigers, African elephants and various foreign cats. The ranch was the set for Roar.
With the filming kicking off in 1974, they spent five years completing the photography aspect. All the clips involving lions were unscripted and taken with four to eight cameras—the process involved over 100 persons who worked in the movie, also over 150 untrained wild cats. Although no cat was hurt during production, about 70 crew and cast members were attacked.
She was not spared as she got a fractured leg after an elephant threw her off its back; she was also attacked by a lion and bitten in the neck, the injury required 38 stitches to get treated; on the other hand, Marshall got attacked frequently, and in 1978 a flood destroyed the set, killing three lions also.
The film ‘Roar’ was released all over the world in 1981 except in the United States; she mentioned her reason was, “The United States distributors wanted the lion’s share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie.”
