Seven Years in Tibet
Short description
Seven Years in Tibet follows Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountaineer who leaves his pregnant wife behind in 1939 to join an expedition in the Himalayas. When the Second World War breaks out, he is taken prisoner by British forces in India. He escapes with fellow climber Peter Aufschnaiter and, after a long and difficult journey across the mountains, the two men reach Lhasa, the sacred city of Tibet. There Harrer becomes a tutor and companion to the young Dalai Lama, and the friendship that develops changes his view of his own life.
Jean-Jacques Annaud directed the film, which sits between The Lover and Enemy at the Gates in his filmography. The screenplay is by Becky Johnston, and the producers are Iain Smith, Annaud and John H. Williams. Brad Pitt plays Harrer, with David Thewlis as Aufschnaiter, Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk as the fourteen-year-old Dalai Lama, and supporting turns from BD Wong, Mako and Lhakpa Tsamchoe. The production was a large international undertaking backed by Sony Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Mandalay Entertainment and Reperage, with a budget of 70 million US dollars, and it returned 131 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.1 from around 167,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.2 from roughly 3,200 votes. The film critics' rating is 6.4 from 35 reviews, which places the reviews below the two audience scores by a modest margin.
What's left behind the scenes
- Brad Pitt's Austrian accent ranked third in Empire magazine's list of worst movie accents.
- The film's director, Jean-Jacques Annaud, sent a crew to Tibet to shoot footage. Ultimately, approximately 20 minutes of material filmed there was included in the film. This information was kept strictly confidential. The filming was done in secret, and no one knew about it until the summer of 1999.
- During the scene of the altercation between Heinrich and Ngawang, the director intentionally did not warn actor B.D. Wong that his character was supposed to be pushed into the mud. When Pitt did what was required of him, Wong, as expected, became furious.
- Jetsun Pema, who starred in this film, is the Dalai Lama's sister. In the film, she played his mother, and therefore also her own mother.
- After Brad Pitt and David Thewlis starred in this film, they were banned from entering China.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
