Wolf Totem
Short description
Wolf Totem follows Chen Zhen, a student from Beijing sent to Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution to live among nomadic herders and teach them to read and write. What begins as a mission of education becomes a lesson in a different way of life. Chen is drawn to the grasslands and to the wolves the herders both fear and respect, and he comes to know their habits and their place in the steppe's balance. When the authorities decide the wolves are a threat and set out to destroy them, Chen's growing bond with the animals puts him at odds with the campaign, and the herders' traditional existence is placed under pressure.
Jean-Jacques Annaud directed and co-wrote the film with Lu Wei and John Collee, adapting Jiang Rong's novel. It arrived in 2015, after Black Gold and before Notre-Dame on Fire, in a filmography that has often placed animals at the centre of human stories, from Quest for Fire and The Bear to Two Brothers. William Feng plays Chen Zhen, with Shawn Dou, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Yin Zhusheng, Baasanjav Mijid and Tumenbayaer in supporting roles. The production, a Chinese-French co-production, cost about 38 million dollars and earned roughly 123 million worldwide, a strong commercial result. On IMDb it holds 6.6/10 from around 6,500 votes, on TMDB 6.5/10 from about 409 votes, and critics gave it 6.5/10 across 30 reviews, so audiences and reviewers landed in much the same place.
What's left behind the scenes
- Producer Max Wang and the filmmakers spent three years raising three generations of wolves, totaling 35 animals. 16 wolves were trained for filming.
- According to producer Max Wang, a guard dog named Rusty watched the trainer Andrew Simpson work so intently and diligently that he himself became capable of performing some of the tricks instead of the wolves (who were being trained to perform them). Furthermore, Rusty befriended the pack's alpha male.
- Knowing that the film would require horseback riding skills, Fan Shaofeng and Sean Dou began taking English-style riding lessons several months before filming began. However, upon arriving in Inner Mongolia, it became clear that their efforts were wasted, as the Mongolian style of riding is markedly different from Western riding, and they had to be retrained.
- Producer Max Wang later recounted that most prominent Chinese directors refused to film this movie due to the difficulties involved in training Mongolian wolves.
- According to director Jean-Jacques Annaud, he had the final say in the final film editing process, which is quite rare for China with its strict censorship.
- Snow falls frequently in Inner Mongolia in winter, but during the filming of "Wolf Totem" the weather was snowless. Snow had to be brought to the filming location from almost 2,000 kilometers away. Approximately 40,000 tons of snow were brought in total.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
