Filming
Principal photography began on October 1, 1976, and was initially scheduled to last for six months, but filming was restricted to five months at a time because the cottonwood trees on set turned brown from November until March. Filming the big cats was difficult and frustrating; cinematographer Jan de Bont often spent hours setting up five cameras and waiting for the cats to do something that could be included in the film. This eventually led to Marshall and the crew recording footage in documentary style with up to eight Panavision 35mm cameras. One scene where Marshall and Mativo drive a 1937 Chevrolet containing two tigers took seven weeks to complete, because Glassey and Miller had to train the animals to ride in a car. Marshall often refused to stop filming because he did not want to lose a take; sometimes only one take was usable from a day's filming.
The opening footage of Marshall racing a bull giraffe on a motorcycle was filmed in Kenya, with the location acknowledged in the credits. One session involved a leopard licking Hedren's face which had been coated in honey; Hedren considered it to be one of the most dangerous scenes she agreed to film as although handlers were 8 feet (2.4 m) away, they would not have been able to stop the cat from biting her. In the scenes where some of the big cats are shot and killed by hunters, the effect was achieved by filming the animals when they were tranquilized for their annual blood draw.
Filming took five years to complete. Although Hedren has claimed that principal photography ended on October 16, 1979, after just over three years, additional pick-up shots were filmed in Kenya during the editing stage. The total production time was 11 years.
Due to the large number of untrained animals on set, there were a reported 48 injuries within two years of the start of filming. It has been estimated that, of Roar's 140-person crew, at least 70 were injured during production. In a 2015 interview, John Marshall said that he believed the number of people injured was more than 100.
Noel Marshall was bitten through the hand when he interacted with male lions during a fight scene; doctors initially feared that he might lose his arm. By the time he suffered eight puncture wounds on his leg caused by a lion which was curious about his anti-reflection makeup, Marshall had already been bitten around eleven times. He was hospitalized when his face and chest were injured and was diagnosed with blood poisoning. Marshall was also diagnosed with gangrene after being attacked many times. It took Marshall several years to fully recover from his injuries. During a promo shoot in 1973, Hedren was bitten in the head by a lion, Cherries, whose teeth scraped against her skull. She was taken to Sherman Oaks Hospital, where her wounds were treated and she was given a tetanus shot. She was admitted to Antelope Valley Hospital after Tembo, the five-ton elephant, picked her up with his trunk by the ankle, fracturing it before bucking her off his back; Hedren said that Tembo had been trying to keep her from falling and was not at fault. She was left with phlebitis and gangrene, in addition to a fractured hand and abrasions on her leg. Several days earlier Tembo had bucked his trainer into a tree and broken her shoulder. Hedren was also scratched on the arm by a leopard and bitten on the chest by a cougar. Griffith received 50 sutures after being attacked by a lioness. It was feared that she would lose an eye, but she eventually recovered without being disfigured, although she did require some facial reconstruction. A lion jumped on John Marshall and began to bite the back of his head; it took six men to separate the lion from him and his wound required 56 sutures. Jerry Marshall was bitten in the thigh by a lion while he was in a cage on set, and he was in hospital alongside Hedren for a month.
Most members of the crew were injured, including de Bont, who was scalped by Cherries while he was filming under a tarpaulin; he received 220 sutures, but resumed his duties after recovering. Togar, one of the lead lions, bit assistant director Doron Kauper in the throat and jaw and tried to pull off one of his ears after Kauper unintentionally cued an attack; Kauper also received injuries to his scalp, chest and thigh, and he was admitted to Palmdale General Hospital where he had to undergo four and a half hours of surgery. Although the attack was reported as nearly fatal, a nurse told a Santa Cruz Sentinel reporter that Kauper's injuries were acute (sudden and traumatic), but that he was conscious and in fair condition after the surgery. After witnessing the attacks, twenty crew members left the set en masse; turnover was high, and many did not want to return. Because of Marshall's financial proceeds from his producer credit on The Exorcist, rumors spread that the set of Roar was plagued by the "curse of The Exorcist".
Pipes and berms from Aliso Canyon became flooded with water and burst on February 9, 1978, after a night of heavy rain. Both were pointed towards the Marshall property to redirect water from the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. The property was destroyed by a 10-foot (3.0 m) flood, from which four sound-crew members had to be rescued. Marshall, who had left the hospital despite being scheduled to undergo knee surgery, helped to rescue many of the animals. Fifteen lions and tigers escaped from the set after fences and cages collapsed; the sheriff and local law enforcement killed three lions, including Robbie the lead lion, who was replaced with another lion, Zuru, when filming resumed. A broken dam and several floods also caused the surrounding lake to fill with sediment, adding six feet to its height. Most of the set, ranch, editing equipment and film stock were destroyed; over $3 million of damage was caused, though the negative had already been sent to be edited in a Hollywood studio. Many friends and strangers offered help to the Marshalls and their crew, including the Southern Pacific Railroad office who offered to send railway cars as temporary housing for the animals. As a result of the flood, production was halted for a year to allow the surrounding area to recover. It took eight months to rebuild the set, and 700 replacement trees were purchased. After most of the issues resulting from the flood had been resolved, twelve wildfires in an Acton, California area broke out in September, though the animals remained unharmed.
