Sheena, also known as Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, is a 1984 superhero film based on a comic-book character that first appeared in the late 1930s, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
A hybrid of action-adventure, superhero film and soap opera–style drama, Sheena was shot on location in Kenya. It tells the tale of Sheena, a heroine raised in the fictional African country of Tigora by the fictional Zambouli tribe.
The film starred Tanya Roberts, Ted Wass and Trevor Thomas. It was directed by John Guillermin and written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., who had previously collaborated on the 1976 remake of King Kong.
Released by Columbia Pictures on 17 August 1984, Sheena bombed in theaters and was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Tanya Roberts), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Musical Score, but it did find some cult success on home video and DVD. Since then, it has been considered a cult film.
Plot While investigating rumors of a mystical "healing earth" whose powers are said to flow forth from the sacred Gudjara Mountain, geologists Philip and Betsy Ames are killed in a cave-in, leaving their young daughter, Janet, an orphan. Janet is adopted by Shaman, a woman of the native Zambouli tribe, and because of a prophecy about the cave-in ("when the sacred mountain cries out"), she is viewed as a child of the gods and renamed Sheena, "Queen of the Jungle".
As Sheena grows up, she learns much from Shaman about the lore of the jungle and the ways of all its creatures. She is even entrusted with the secret of telepathic communication with the animals. Outsiders rarely disturb their territory, since that part of Tigora is under the special protection of King Jabalani.
Trouble is brewing in Tigora. King Jabalani's ex-football champion younger brother, Prince Otwani is conspiring with his brother's fiancée, Countess Zanda to have Jabalani assassinated so they can exploit the titanium-rich Zambouli land. Experiencing a vision foretelling Jabalani's death, Shaman hastens to Tigora's capital of Azan to try to warn him, but is arrested by corrupt police officers working for Zanda.
Otwani's old friend, reporter Vic Casey and his cameraman, Fletch Agronsky are in Tigora to do a story on Otwani. When Jabalani is killed and Shaman is framed for it, Vic and Fletch realize that they are on to a much bigger story than they had anticipated. Heading to a remote prison compound to interview Shaman, they bear witness to her rescue by Sheena and her animal friends; Chango the elephant, Marika the zebra and Tiki the chimpanzee. As they escape back into the jungle after destroying the prison, Vic and Fletch follow. However, Shaman soon dies from her injuries.
Otwani obtains the services of Colonel Jorgensen and his small army of soldier mercenaries, the Black Berets. Their mission is to eradicate the Zambouli people so their territory will be open for strip-mining. Vic join forces with Sheena to stop the evil prince and his army, along the way, Vic and Sheena fall in love.
The climax takes place on the African Serengeti. Zanda captures Sheena on a helicopter and attempts to shove her down the Zambuli Falls, but Sheena connects telepathically to a flock of flamingos that attack the helicopter and throw Zanda down the waterfalls to her death. Sheena leads her people against the mercenaries and Otwani. Sheena successfully shoots Otwani in the heart with her arrow and fulfills the prophecy, but she is also positioned to be hit by Otwani's vehicle. Vic saves her life by crashing into Otwani's vehicle; resulting in severe burn wounds. Vic is healed with the earth and wants to stay with Sheena, but realizes that if he tells his story to the outside world, then other corporations will destroy Sheena's home.
Vic and Sheena have sex before parting ways. Later, he and Fletch leave on an airplane back to New York. Before leaving, Sheena records a farewell message on his tape recorder wishing him a safe journey. At the end the film, Sheena takes a ride on Marika through the Serengeti.
Cast Les Ballets Africains performed the tribal dance sequences, which were choreographed by the troupe's director Italo Zambo.
Production Development In 1974, a friend of documentary filmmaker Paul Aratow suggested to him that the comic book Sheena would make a good film. Aratow thought, "Something went off in my head – I realised that it was a most commercial idea, it had action and a sexy, mythic Earth goddess type who was actually one of the true comic-book heroines." Aratow bought the rights, set up a production company with Alan Rinzler, and succeeded in interesting Universal Pictures with Raquel Welch attached to play the lead role of Sheena. "At first it looked incredibly easy", Aratow says in the interview. "After only two months I had an office at the studio and Raquel Welch was going to play Sheena." Robert and Laurie Dillon wrote a script that took a tongue-in-cheek approach to the material. Universal invested around $65,000 in the project. The studio then decided not to proceed with the movie.
The producers then took the project to Filmways, where then-head of production Ed Feldman wanted "to create an out-and-out adventure story, with humour, of course, but basically an elaborate adventure." Feldman had a poster designed illustrating his idea and showed it to Mike Medavoy of United Artists, who agreed to finance a new script. Michael Scheff and David Spector did a screenplay. Raquel Welch, who had been Universal's choice for the role, was still a possibility, but Feldman said, "at this point we have no actress in mind. I wouldn't say we wouldn't go to Raquel Welch, but I wouldn't want to rule out a worldwide search, either."
When Mike Medavoy left United Artists, the project went into turnaround. Aratow now owed $65,000 to Universal and $85,000 to United Artists for the money they put in the project. Aratow took Sheena to Avco-Embassy, which did a search for possible stars, then also passed. "I realised they just didn't have any money", said Aratow.
Eventually in 1980, Columbia Pictures' head of production Frank Price agreed to finance the movie Sheena with a budget from $7 to 10 million. Bo Derek was mentioned as a possible star, but Aratow says, "all reasonable casting suggestions are welcome". "Girls today need superheroes", said Aratow. "I have a daughter, who is six, who needs someone to look up to. And I want Sheena to be that superhero. I also want Sheena to be a character that parents will want to send their kids to see, and the type of picture that parents can go see with their children."
Script "The comic-book concept was hopelessly outdated," said Aratow. "It involved the killing of endangered species and also had racist overtones. We decided to create our own interpretation of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. She is a modern, contemporary woman. She is much more cognizant of ecology. She is much less violent. Sheena is an '80s film, so Sheena is an '80s woman living in the jungle. She is in tune with the natural order."Swires June 1984 p 46
The first writer at Columbia was Leslie Stevens. "Leslie took the story in a fantasy direction, involving a Chariots of the Gods concept," said Aratow. "It was an interesting job, but it didn't meet with studio enthusiasm. Columbia didn't want to deal with Sheena as a magical phenomenon. The execs felt the basic material was already so fantastic, that the best way to play it was naturalistic. But they believed in the property enough to commission yet another script, and start all over again."
Columbia then financed a script from David Newman who had written Superman (1978). This script took a year to write. "His screenplay was worth waiting for, though, because it was more realistic and worked out much better," said Aratow. Newman said he was interested in the concept of the "white goddess... that idea which appears again and again in legend— this 'Miranda' or 'Eve-like' innocent creature who lives in perfect harmony with animals and with the land — a kind of ecological superperson. I wanted to explore how that kind of person would fare in today's Africa, an Africa with places like Uganda and people like Idi Amin."
Tanya Roberts, who would play the role, said David Newman came up with the basis of the story. "I preferred his script, because it was the best in terms of character development," she said.Swires Sept 1984 p 63 The script was rewritten by Dean Riesner, whom Roberts says, "totally changed David's script. It lost all its charm and romance. It was a mistake; it didn't work at all. Riesner may be good at action, but he isn't good at character development."
When John Guillermin became the director, he felt like it needed "something more", so they hired Guillermin's old friend Lorenzo Semple Jr., who had worked with the director on King Kong (1976). Guillermin later said, "Unlike the Kong films, Sheena for me had some great possibilities. I saw the character of Sheena as sort of an ethereal person. It would have made the film more of a fairy tale, but, of course, it didn't quite go that route." Roberts says Semple "went back to David's original script. He switched things around a bit, added excitement, and speeded up the pace to make it more intense, but he never changed any of David's characters."
Casting Among those considered for the lead were reportedly Sandahl Bergman, Cheryl Ladd, Sybil Danning, Susan Mechsner, and Christie Brinkley. Tanya Roberts was then best known for appearing in the fifth and final season of Charlie's Angels, playing the lead Kiri in The Beastmaster and posing nude in Playboy. Roberts said, "As soon as I heard about the project, I said: 'This part must be mine.' I bugged the casting lady at Columbia Pictures for months. Finally, I met the director, John Guillermin, but he wasn't too impressed with me. I begged for another interview. I saw him again, and said: 'If you don't give me a bloody screen test, I'll slash my wrists, and it will be your fault. You'll have my death on your hands.' I don't know if that pushed him over the edge, but he agreed to test me."Swires Sept 1984 p 61
Roberts said she tested against "about 15 models. They were very beautiful, but they couldn't act. Their tests were horrendous— they couldn't cry, they couldn't shout, they couldn't do anything...I felt very confident about getting the role. I have been in this business for 14 years, and have paid a lot of dues. I know what I'm capable of. I was the only one who could act, who looked right, who could do the stunts. I tested again in a blonde wig, and I got the part."Swires Sept 1984 p 62
The producer said they tested over 2,000 actresses, adding that Farrah Fawcett and Cheryl Ladd "were discussed years ago, but they would be ridiculous in the role now. We never gave serious thought to Bergman. Mechsner's casting was entirely her own invention. And Danning was never seriously considered. She is wrong in terms of age and physical appearance. Frankly, I think Tanya is hotter than all of them — in addition to being stunningly beautiful and having the world's greatest body."Swires June 1984 p 67