Box Office Bomb: Only managed to make back 2 million of its 17 million dollar budget.
California Doubling: The film takes place in Africa, but most of the scenes were filmed in Acton, California.
Creator Killer: The film ended Tippi Hedren's marriage to Noel Marshall; this was his sole directing acting/writing job, and he only worked one more film in 1988 before he died.
The Danza: A number of the cast in this movie have character names the same as their real first names. This includes all of the children of Tippi Hedren and Noel Marshall. Other actors playing characters with their first names included Frank Tom and Rick Glassey. Kyalo Mativo plays a character known by his real last name.
Enforced Method Acting: A lot of the scenes of the actors being attacked were unscripted; the camera was kept running because Marshall didn't want to lose any takes.
Extremely Lengthy Creation: The movie began development in 1970, with filming starting in 1976 and going on for the next five years; the entire film took 11 years from start to release.
Inspiration for the Work: The film was conceived by Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren in 1969, after she had starred in Satan's Harvest in Mozambique. During filming, they came across an abandoned plantation house in Gorongosa National Park which had been overrun by a pride of lions, and were told by their bus guide and local residents that animal populations were becoming endangered due to poaching; this inspired them to consider making either one or a series of films.
Looping Lines: Much of the dialogue is (poorly) dubbed in, due to the hectic scenes of the animals running around.
The film is largely known for this, being a film focused on big cats with some very reckless production. Most of the cats (including around 150 lions) involved weren't actually trained. It's estimated that over seventy people were injured on-set, and some of the actors claim that this was lowballing it. One of the main problems was that the film heavily involved people being scared of and running away from big cats, but ultimately learning that the cats aren't dangerous... but the thing is, acting terrified of a predatory animal and running away from it is a good way to make it interpret you as prey. The kicker? Tippi Hedren adopted most of the animals used in the shoot!
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 Noell 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.
The Other Marty: Melanie Griffith left the film after a fight between two lions, saying that she did not want to "come out of this with half a face." Although Griffith was replaced by her friend, actress Patsy Nedd, she later expressed interest in the film and reshot many scenes.
Real-Life Relative: This movie was somewhat of a family affair. Actor-writer-director-production designer Noel Marshall cast two of his three real-life sons, Jerry Marshall and John Marshall, to play his sons Jerry and John in this picture. His other son, Joel Marshall worked behind-the-scenes, and was art director. Jerry Marshall also acted as an editor whilst Mona Marshall acted as an assistant editor. Tippi Hedren, married to Noel Marshall, both acted as producers, whilst Hedren starred in this movie along with her daughter, Melanie Griffith.
Troubled Production: The film probably had one of the most troubled productions in history, due to the large number of untamed animals and the largely-inexperienced crew:
It's estimated over half of the 140 crew members were injured during production, with the actual number believed to be over 100.
Before filming, Marshall's son John was the first victim; he was attacked by a lion who clamped its jaw on John's head. It took 25 minutes to get the lion to let go of John's head, and the result was 56 stitches.
During filming of one scene, a lion bit through Noel Marshall's hand; that moment is in the film, and Marshall can be seen attempting to shake the blood off his hand!
One lion grabbed Melanie Griffith's (Hedren's daughter) hair and wouldn't let go. That moment also made it to film. She later got clawed in the face, requiring reconstructive surgery. Some reports would later blame the latter incident for playing a major role in her becoming addicted to painkillers, which she needed post-surgery.
The cinematographer, future Speed director Jan de Bont, needed 200 stitches on his head as a result of another attack that outright scalped him. On top of that, de Bont ended up effectively having to co-direct much of the film, due to Marshall's lack of experience working on an actual film set.
Tippi Hedren was thrown off an elephant and broke her ankle, which then turned gangrenous. Now a staunch supporter of animal rights, Hedren regrets having ever put the animals in the situation she and her husband put them through. The strain of the production ultimately played a major role in destroying their marriage, and led to their getting divorced in 1982.
A dam break destroyed over $3 million worth of the set and equipment, and resulted in several animals escaping (some of which had to be shot).
Working Title: Lions and Lions, Lions and More Lions.
Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: The script was kept loose due to the difficulty of getting the largely-untamed animals to follow commands, so many of the scenes were improvised.
