I remember a moment from an interview with my beloved Hugh Laurie about how he starred in Place of Lions.
And we had an old lion. At least I was assured so. And he had a name, though he didn’t call anyway, but he had a name, his name was Jock. And we filmed scenes where the filming group was in cages and the actors were not. But we’ve been shooting Jokes down the slope all the time because the lions are fantastically lazy and if they see their lunch somewhere on top, they’re less likely to follow him.
Leno: And what, did he attack you?
Hugh: No, but no matter how steep you think of yourself, when a lion whispers, your legs become cotton. We were advised by a lion coach. He said, if the lion is attacking you, and this is a useful advice, it may be useful if you find yourself in a similar situation, so if the lion is attacking you, you need to stretch your hand back, take a bunch, let me say, shit and throw the lion in the mouth. And I asked like an idiot, and where do I get the shit? And he said, don’t worry, it will be.