Taglines: Only the most incredible parts are true.
The Ghost and the Darkness movie storyline. In 1896 Lt. Col. John Paterson was sent to East Africa to build a railway bridge. He had a deadline to meet but was confident he and his large workforce of Africans and Indians can get the job done in time. John’s was a man of his word and got things done – which he demonstrated on his first day by killing a lion that had been pestering the workforce. This earned John respect, but it didn’t last very long because a few weeks later 2 new lions began visiting and they’re man-eaters.
The film is based on a true story and during the construction of the bridge, the lions would enter the workers camp to kill. Believing them not to be real lions, the locals name them ‘The Ghost’ and ‘The Darkness’. After losing dozens of workers to the lions, the railroad company brought in Remington, an American ‘great white hunter’, to kill them, but even his reputation for being the best could not prevent yet more carnage. It is believed that over 130 people were killed by the two lions in just a few months.
The Ghost and the Darkness is a 1996 American historical adventure film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. The screenplay was written by William Goldman. The story is a fictionalized account of the Tsavo Man-Eaters, two lions that attacked and killed workers at Tsavo, Kenya, during the building of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in East Africa in 1898.
The film was shot mainly on location at Songimvelo Game Reserve in South Africa, rather than Kenya, due to tax laws. Many Maasai characters in the film were actually portrayed by South African actors, although the Maasai depicted during the hunt were portrayed by real Maasai warriors who were hired for the movie.
While the real man-eaters were, like all lions from the Tsavo region, a more aggressive, maneless variety, those used for filming were actually the least aggressive available, for both safety and aesthetic reasons. The film’s lions were two male lions with manes. They were brothers named Caesar and Bongo, who were residents of the Bowmanville Zoo in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, both of whom were also featured in George of the Jungle. The film also featured three other lions: two from France and one from the USA.
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Directed by: Stephen Hopkins
Starring: Michael Douglas, Val Kilmer, Emily Mortimer, Henry Cele, Tom Wilkinson, John Kani, Bernard Hill, Satchu Annamalai, Teddy Reddy, Jack Devnarain
Screenplay by: William Goldman
Production Design by: Stuart Wurtzel
Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editing by: Robert Brown, Roger Bondelli, Steve Mirkovich
Costume Design by: Ellen Mirojnick
Set Decoration by: Hilton Rosemarin
Art Direction by: Zack Grobler, Giles Masters, George Richardson, Steve Saklad, Malcolm Stone
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
MPAA Rating: R for some violence and gore involving animal attacks.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: October 11, 1996
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