cover image Two Brothers: A Fable on Film and How It Was Told

Two Brothers: A Fable on Film and How It Was Told

Jean-Jacques Annaud, Diana Landau. Newmarket Press, $29.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-1-55704-630-7

Set in the jungles of colonial Indochina in the early 1900s, Annaud's film concerns twin tigers separated as cubs and taken into captivity only to be reunited years later as enemies by an explorer who inadvertently forces them to fight each other. To make the film, the director explains in this pictorial work, he collaborated with trainer Thierry Le Portier, with whom he'd worked on Gladiator, to capture such images as tigers running or climbing on tricky terrain, chasing vehicles and running through temples. He explains these aspects of the filmmaking process and more, offering an instructive glimpse into the world of depicting animals on film. There's the technique of""getting tigers to act,"" which requires infinite patience and the ability to create a language common to the trainer and the animal; as well as the challenge of working with cubs--which Le Portier likens to""trying to train your three-month-old puppy."" With close-up photos depicting the filming process--as well as other chapters on the actors, costumes, sets and script--this volume is a fine companion to the movie.