A Bear in Wasteland
    An Interview with Jean-Jacques Annaud
    by Michael Dare
    (originally published in the Movieline Magazine)


      If the entire bear species were to employ a PR firm to change their image in the public eye, they might have hired Jean-Jacques Annaud to make The Bear. The adventures of an orphan bear cub could have turned into typical '50s Disney treacle, but Annaud manages to avoid every cliche of the typical "nature" film. He delivers a level of honesty and innocence that most filmmakers never bother to attempt.
            "It all depends on your perspective," explains Annaud. "If you make a film from the point of view of the bears, then the hunters are the bad guys. If you make a film from the point of view of the antelope, the bears are the bad guys. And if you make a film from the point of view of the grass, then the antelope are the bad guys."
           Annaud has a history of taking chances, so if anyone would be capable of making a film about a field of grass, it would be him. He's the ultimate stickler for detail, with a staggering capacity for revealing deep emotional truths in the strangest of circumstances.
           After winning the Acadamy Award for best foreign film for Black and White in Color, Annaud made Quest for Fire, the first and only serious film about cavepeople. Naturally, it put creationists and bible thumpers in apoplexy. "In India, they reject any idea of primitive man," says Annaud, "so they were very upset. We had to withdraw the film from some theaters after only one showing." Next, Annaud made The Name of the Rose starring Sean Connery, a murder mystery in a monestary and a fascinating study of art and philosophy in the middle ages. On his fourth outing as a director, Annaud has headed for the wilderness again.
           The Bear took less than a year to shoot, but it took four years to train the animals. It was a nervewracking process, involving dozens of beasts and stunt doubles. Each day's shooting was prepared according to the amount of goodies it would take to get the non-human actors to do what was necessary. Bears only work for food, so one single shot might take "ten pounds of apples, twelve packages of marshmallows, several fresh salmon, and a bucket of chicken legs."
           One shot was particularly difficult. "The adult bear had to attack a man. He had never done it before, and he couldn't understand why he was supposed to do something that was the opposite of his training. Luckily, he did it in one take, but the next day I made a big mistake. Some photographers asked me to pose with the bear, and I broke all my own rules and stepped next to him. He was still confused from the shooting the day before, and he attacked me. I crouched into a submissive position, and he backed away, but it was terrifying." Annaud may have seen the worst of it, but that was certainly not the first time an actor has wanted to kill his director.


       


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