(Cover) - EN Movies - Frank Coraci, director of Zookeeper, feared his cast would be eaten by the wild animals on set.

The comedy, which sees Kevin James as a zookeeper who discovers that animals can talk, features several real life creatures including lions and bears. Frank admits he was praying every day that there were no mishaps on set.

"Thank God there were no real disasters, because if there were on a movie with this many huge animals it probably would mean somebody was eaten alive," he remarked to Cover Media.

"To get their [the animals] attention, food would often be used. It was always an event when the lion was satiated, because then to get his attention we would have to literally bring out a horse - an enormous shiny black stallion and it never failed.

"Fortunately, for the horse, we never let the lion eat him. Just know, when you see the movie, during most of the scenes when the lion is talking, all he was thinking about was "MMMM! Horse!"

While Frank had fears with the demanding animal talent on set, he had no worries with his cast, which included Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher and Rosario Dawson.

"I thought it would be pretty cool to work with that much talent in one movie," he added.

Zookeeper hits UK cinemas on July 29 2011. (C) Cover Media