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UPDATED: February 23, 2015 NO. 9 FEBRUARY 26, 2015
Partnering With the Wolf
New film reflects a man-nature tragedy in vast Chinese grasslands decades ago
By Tang Yuankai
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CLOSE FRIENDS: A still of Wolf Totem showing Chen Zhen, played by Feng Shaofeng, and his pet wolf (COURTESY OF CHINA FILM GROUP COOPERATION)

A movie

Nowadays, protecting grasslands and living in harmony with nature have become a consensus of the Chinese nation and been made a national policy. Annaud said that what impresses him the most is that the author's concerns about environmental deterioration have widely influenced the Chinese public amid the novel's growing popularity.

The film Wolf Totem focuses on environmental problems because they are not only specific to China, Annaud said, adding that many EU members and the United States have also had to deal with these ongoing challenges. According to him, the film conveys a message about the importance of a harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

Both man and the wolf need a sound environment for survival, Annaud noted.

The original major storylines of the film were planned by Annaud and his long-time collaborating French screenwriters. After that, he came to China and attempted to find a Chinese scriptwriter to partner with. His choice was Lu Wei, who wrote screenplays for two of the most famous Chinese films in recent history—Palme d'Or-winning Farewell My Concubine in 1993 and To Live, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1994. Noticeably, Lu himself also spent years living in a remote border area in China in his 20s. This made Annaud believed that Lu was able to fully understand and show the inner world of the hero of the film.

In the eyes of Zhang Xun, President of Beijing-based China Film Co-Production Corp., the model of cooperation between Annaud and Lu is ideal. Zhang Xun, who has been responsible for the global distribution of more than 300 Chinese and Chinese-foreign co-produced films, has always advocated that a co-production should begin with cooperation between Chinese and foreign moviemakers on the screenplay's text. Only in this way, she said, can the completed film avoid problems arising from either foreigners' limited knowledge about China's realities or Chinese people's unfamiliarity with overseas audiences. An Australia-based screenwriter also participated in finalizing the screenplay for the film.

At the very beginning, Annaud and Jiang, the novel's author, had reached an agreement that the film should feature real Mongolian wolves, instead of using computer-generated imagery. The director even insisted that real wolves should appear in 95 percent of the situations where they should be, in order to capture the authentic wildness of the animal.

In 2009, a training base up to international standards was established in Beijing's suburban Shunyi District before the film's shooting started, where more than 100 wolves were trained. Andrew Simpson, a world-class animal trainer from Canada, oversaw the work. Eventually, 20 of the center's trained wolves ended up in the film.

Feng Shaofeng, who played Chen Zhen in the film, was also allowed to raise and train the wolves, so that he could get acquainted with the animals. "Wolves will never accept humans as their master as dogs do; they treat us as friends," Feng said.

Email us at: tangyuankai@bjreview.com

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