Did You Know?
Dar's black tiger is actually a regular striped tiger dyed black. The dye would wash off around the mouth whenever the tiger took a drink, so throughout the film the stripes are often visible around the mouth.
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The eagle often refused to fly on cue so in order to shoot footage of it in the air it was dropped from a trapdoor in a hot air balloon.
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The actor playing the young deposed prince was not allowed to be on the set at the same time as the tiger, so a short stunt person in a wig, photographed from behind, was used in those shots.
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Don Coscarelli claims to have read all of Andre Norton's books as a boy. Norton is the author of a novel called "The Beastmaster", in which this movie is loosely based.
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Director Don Coscarelli decided to set the story in a sort of Bronze Age milieu because he was a long time fan of Steve Reeves, Ray Harryhausen and sword and sandal flicks.
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The producers fired the original animal trainer in the middle of filming and hired another one.
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Although the film fared only modestly at the box office, it steadily built a strong cult following over the years. It subsequently received significant local TV and cable airplay in the USA, notably HBO and TBS where it became a TV mainstay and viewer favorite. Its replay was so common that some dubbed TBS "The Beastmaster Station", and HBO as "Hey, Beastmaster is On".
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Don Coscarelli sold off his rights on the story and characters. He has no involvement with the sequels, nor the TV-series, and doesn't see any money from them.
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Producer Dino De Laurentiis liked the movie and offered Don Coscarelli to direct Conan the Destroyer. Coscarelli declined because he thought the script was quite bad.
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An eighteen years old Demi Moore auditioned several times for the part of Kiri. Although she was Don Coscarelli's favorite choice, the producers decided to cast Tanya Roberts.
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Sultan, the tiger that played "Ruh" in the movie, died about 2 years after the movie as a result of severe skin problems as well as other health issues caused by the toxic black dye used.
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Several of the actors appear in very small costumes, including loincloth-only garb. Though the film appears to be set in a warm climate, it was quite cold on the set and the actors would have to find warmth in between scenes.
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Don Coscarelli's original choice for the villainous role of Maax was Klaus Kinski, but an agreement could not be reached and the producers hired Rip Torn instead.
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