description The Ghost and the Darkness Overview
The Ghost and the Darkness depicts events surrounding two lions that attacked laborers constructing the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in Kenya during 1898. Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas star in this fictionalized account of the Tsavo man-eaters’ behavior and impact on the construction project. The film is based on real incidents involving a pair of lions near Tsavo.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
info The Ghost and the Darkness Specifications
| Country | United States |
| Year | 1996 |
help The Ghost and the Darkness FAQ
Is The Ghost and the Darkness based on a true story?
Yes, the film is based on the real Tsavo Man-Eaters incident of 1898, in which two lions killed workers constructing the Kenya-Uganda Railway. The actual lions are preserved as taxidermy specimens at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where they remain on public display.
Who stars in The Ghost and the Darkness?
Val Kilmer stars as Colonel John Henry Patterson, the real-life railway engineer who hunted the lions, and Michael Douglas co-stars as Charles Remington, a fictional big-game hunter. Douglas's character was invented for the film; the real Patterson handled much of the hunting himself.
Who wrote the screenplay for The Ghost and the Darkness?
The screenplay was written by William Goldman, the Academy Award–winning writer of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men. Goldman became fascinated by the story after reading Colonel Patterson's 1907 book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.
How many people did the Tsavo lions actually kill?
Patterson's own account claimed 135 victims, and that number appears in the film. However, modern scientific studies analyzing the lions' remains have produced lower estimates, with some research suggesting the total may have been closer to 35.
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