Two Brothers
Short description
Two tiger cubs are born among the ruins of a temple in Southeast Asia and grow up under the care of their parents, but they are separated when a hunter arrives to take treasures from the sacred site. One cub is sold to a circus, the other becomes the companion of a colonial administrator's son, and the two are raised apart in captivity. Years later, a cruel owner brings the grown animals together to fight.
Jean-Jacques Annaud directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Alain Godard, and produced with Jake Eberts. Made after Enemy at the Gates and before His Majesty Minor, it is the seventh of the eleven features Annaud has directed, following the animal-centred The Bear. The cast includes Guy Pearce as Aidan McRory, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu and Freddie Highmore, with 38 credited cast members and 45 credited crew. The production cost 75 million dollars and returned 62 million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from 15,738 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from 907 votes, with 113 reviews giving a critics' rating of 6.6 out of 10. The British and French co-production runs 109 minutes in the adventure, drama and family genres.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of the French ambassador could have gone to Christian Clavier.
- Guy Pearce insisted that the scenes involving him be filmed using adult tigers. As a rule, for the safety of the actors, such scenes are filmed separately and then combined using computer graphics.
- The tigers used in the filming were provided by the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand, near Pattaya.
- The filming of the prince's palace took place in the world-famous Muang Boran Park (“Ancient City”), 33 kilometers from Bangkok, where the most famous historical monuments of Thailand are reproduced on a smaller scale.
- Approximately 30 tigers were used during the filming of the movie. Most of them were taken from French zoos, and the rest were brought from Thailand.
- All precautions were taken, but the tiger still managed to bite Guy Pearce. The actor later admitted that it was painful, but "still pretty cool."
- Animatronic tigers were used in scenes where there was even the slightest danger of an attack on the actors. In total, five full-sized adult animatronic animals were constructed for the shoot.
- In practically every scene where the tiger cub looks into the camera, it was actually looking at a bottle of milk in the trainer's hands.
- Freddie Highmore was kept away from the real animals, and animatronic tigers were used in all of his scenes.
- The film's director, screenwriter, and producer Jean-Jacques Annaud, along with other crew members, spent a significant portion of the filming period in cages.
- The film was shot using high-resolution digital cameras and 35mm film. One of the advantages of capturing the unpredictable behavior of animals digitally is the ability to record for up to 50 minutes without interruption before the camera needs to be recharged.
- The tiger cubs were filmed immediately after being bottle-fed. Once full, they became more docile, followed commands better, and soon fell asleep.
- A month before filming began, the tigers were moved from France to Cambodia so they would have time to acclimate to the humid climate.
- Computer graphics were used only twice during the production of the film—for the scenes featuring bats in the temple and fish in the aquarium.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
