The Bear (original title Ours, L' (1988); Made in France, English soundtrack) The director of Quest for Fire creates yet another film in nature with almost no human dialogue in this picturesque story of an orphaned bear cub who is adopted by an adult male bear and must avoid hunters. Bart the Bear stars in this anthropomorphic fantasy. Estimated budget $25 million. The film grossed more than $100 million in its theatrical release. Doug Seus was the Biological and Storyboard Consultant; Doug Seus, Lynne Seus and Clint Younreen were the Behavioral Trainers for the kodiak "Bart" and the cub "Youk;" Mark Wiener, Keith Bauer and Madeleine Klein were the Bear Trainers for "Doc" and "Grizz" (stand-in bears). The animatronic bears used in some scenes were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Animatronics is a technique that permits the remote-control animation of objects and characters. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud described the film's story to producer Claude Berri in four lines: "An orphan bear cub. A big solitary bear. Two hunters in the forest. The animals' point of view." Shot-by-shot storyboard drawings were created for the film and then given to the animal trainers so that they could coach the bears to perform every specific action called for by the story. The training of the bears took nearly four years. Although set in British Columbia, the film was shot on location in the national parks of Northern Italy and the Austrian Tyrol (settings in the heart of the Dolomite Mountains). The last scene, however, was shot in the Canadian Arctic wilderness (the Polar Circle near the MacKenzie delta), because Annaud wanted the beauty of that vast, wild territory. During a publicity shoot, Annaud was attacked by Bart, the full-grown Kodiak, who perceived a quick, sharp movement by the director as an attack. Annaud only escaped serious injury by curling up and playing dead. Shot in Panavision.
