Sheena
Short description
Sheena is an adventure fantasy about a young woman raised in the African jungle after her parents are killed on safari. Taken in by a local shaman, she grows up with a deep knowledge of the land and an ability to communicate with its animals. When a television reporter covering the region becomes caught up in a political murder, he is thrown together with Sheena; the two flee the mercenaries sent after them by the man who arranged the killing and now aims to seize power. Her bond with the jungle is their main advantage against modern weapons.
John Guillermin directed, working from a screenplay by David Newman and Lorenzo Semple Jr., with Paul Aratow producing. The film sits between Death on the Nile and King Kong Lives in Guillermin's filmography, which also includes The Towering Inferno and King Kong. Tanya Roberts plays Sheena, Ted Wass plays reporter Vic Casey, and Donovan Scott appears as Fletcher, alongside Elizabeth of Toro, France Zobda and Trevor Thomas. Thirty cast members and 74 crew are credited.
Released in August 1984, the film carries a budget of 25 million dollars and returned about 6 million worldwide, a mismatch that indicates it did not find a large theatrical audience. On IMDb it holds 4.9 out of 10 from roughly 6,000 votes; on TMDB it stands at 5.6 from 163 votes. A critics' rating of 3.3 from nine reviews places it below even the modest audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The creators of the Sheena character, S. M. Eiger and Will Eisner, were not credited in the film.
- Two years before playing Sheena, actress Tanya Roberts starred in a similar film, “Beastmaster.” Both films feature scenes with the actress nude.
- The film's director had previously worked on “jungle child” films, having directed “Tarzan's Greatest Adventure” (1959) and “Tarzan Goes to India” (1962). He also directed three other films about Africa: “The Guns at Batasi” (1964), “Shaft in Africa” (1973), and “Death on the Nile” (1978).
- The film features tigers, which do not actually live in Africa.
- Producer Paul Aratow envisioned making the film as early as 1975 with Universal Pictures and Raquel Welch in the lead role. However, due to constant script rewrites, the project was postponed. It moved from United Artists to Filmways (later Orion Pictures) and then through Avco-Embassy to Columbia Pictures.
- Armed security was present on set to protect the film crew from attacks by wild animals.
- The film was shot in Kenya for around seven months.
- The film was included in a list of the 100 worst films of all time and peoples, published in a book by the founder of the Golden Raspberry Awards, John Wilson.
- Due to her studies at Yale University, actress Jodie Foster had to decline an offer to play Sheena.
- Animal trainer Hubert Wells, recalling the film, once said: “We flew with an elephant, a rhinoceros, five lions, four leopards, and as many chimpanzees, with fifteen horses and sixteen birds. It was the largest animal shipment to Africa, and getting them to their destination and then returning them was beyond human capabilities.”
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
