Movies - TV
A Live Lion Got Loose On The Set Of Idris Elba's Beast
By BJ COLANGELO
In “Beast,” Idris Elba plays a widower who takes his two daughters to South Africa, but their trip turns into a fight for their lives when an angry wild lion escapes from poachers. While the lion in the final film will be CGI, director Baltasar Kormákur admitted that he brought a real lion on set — and it got out of its cage.
“Beast” has some of the best CGI artists in Hollywood in its crew, but Kormákur convinced Universal to allow a real lion on set, at the suggestion of Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Iñárritu told Kormákur that the film's artists should see how the light falls on the lion’s fur for reference.
Kormákur's son served as a director of photography, and his father tasked him with hopping into the lion's cage to shoot reference scenes. As if that weren't enough, the lion escaped its cage at one point, but the situation was resolved with no injuries. Audiences can see Elba tangle with a digital lion when “Beast” hits theaters on August 19th.