Gorillas in the Mist
Short description
Dian Fossey leaves a comfortable life in Kentucky for Central Africa, determined to study the region's dwindling mountain gorillas. Working alongside a tracker, she gradually gains the trust of a gorilla group and settles into a remote research camp in Rwanda. The film follows her growing commitment to the animals as she turns from observer into defender, opposing poachers and others whose interests threaten the gorillas. That fight brings her into conflict with people who resent her presence, and her isolation deepens as she makes the gorillas her life's work.
Michael Apted directed this 1988 drama, the seventh of the nineteen films he made in chronological order, following Critical Condition and preceding Class Action. Anna Hamilton Phelan wrote the screenplay, and Arne Glimcher and Terence A. Clegg produced. Sigourney Weaver plays Fossey, with Bryan Brown as Bob Campbell, Julie Harris as Roz Carr, John Omirah Miluwi as Sembagare, Iain Cuthbertson as Dr. Louis Leakey and Constantin Alexandrov as Claude Van Veeten.
Made for a budget of 22 million dollars, the film took about 61 million dollars worldwide, a solid return. Viewer response has been consistent: on IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from roughly 31,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from 679 votes. A critics' rating of 6.6 out of 10 from nineteen reviews places it slightly below those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Gorilla suits used in cinema prior to this project had a number of anatomical differences from real animals. For example, the actor's eyes could be seen inside the suit, which necessitated doing something about the faces. In this film, director Michael Apted (1941-2021) wanted to film real gorillas wherever possible, but in some scenes it was still necessary to use actors in animal suits, so the difference was still noticeable. Rick Baker managed to create gorilla suits that made the actors indistinguishable from real animals.
- The film is based on the works of zoologist Dian Fossey and an article by Harold T.P. Hayes dedicated to her work.
- The character played by John Omirah Miluvi was based on a former servant of Rosamund Carr (1912-1996), with whom she founded an orphanage in 1994 after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda on July 18, 1994.
- Both Universal and Warner Bros. were independently filming biopics about primatologist and wildlife conservation popularizer Dian Fossey (1932-1985) at the time, and both film companies were competing for the right to be the first to obtain permission to film gorillas in Rwanda. The Rwandan government refused to issue a permit until both film companies reached an agreement. It was then decided that both companies would pool their resources and efforts and release the film together.
- Later, one of the costume designers revealed that chimpanzees were used as the baby gorillas, their faces were darkened and their fur was slightly altered to make them look more like gorillas. The reason was that filming actual baby gorillas could have angered or simply displeased the adult gorillas, and the film crew would have been in danger.
- For a number of reasons, the film crew tried to stay away from the gorillas during the periods when filming was not actually taking place. Once, preparations were underway for the start of filming, crew members and actors were busy with various tasks near the filming location, and a stuntman put on a gorilla suit. The suit looked quite realistic. In the scene they were about to shoot, a gorilla was supposed to attack the heroes and chase them on all fours. After putting on the suit, the stuntman decided to try running, and he took off, and since no one had paid him much attention up to that moment, those present decided that it was a real gorilla and fled. They only realized what had happened after a while.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
