Brotherhood of the Wolf - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Brotherhood of the Wolf or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Brotherhood of the Wolf

[beth]

Two uniquely French breeds of dog are used in this film: Bleu De Gascogne hounds are used during hunting scenes, and a Briard sheepdog accompanies a shepherdess later in the film.

[marc]

De Fronsac travels on a ship aptly named "Frère loup", French for "Brother wolf".

[carla]

In the movie, Jean Chastel ( Philippe Nahon ) is an old healer who, along with his daughter, cooperates with the villains to take care of the trained Beast. The real Jean Chastel was a local farmer, innkeeper and hunter; he had 5 daughters and 4 sons and was the man who, according to reports, in 1767, at the age of 59, killed the huge wolf generally (although not universally) considered the "real" Beast of the Gévaudan - as opposed to the animal shot by the King's hunters in 1765, after whose death the attacks still went on for two years. Chastel had been previously arrested for hindering the official hunters sent by the Crown, reportedly sending them into a bog as a sort of prank, as there was considerable animosity between them and the locals.

[tamara]

All the primary characters, except the Native American Mani, actually existed and lived during reign of King Louis XV.

[leo]

Fronsac's spinning blades were accomplished on set by having the actor hold a knob attached to the hilt of the swords between his fingers. The knobs can be most clearly scene after he scalps the gypsy leader.

[ronnie]

To prepare for his role, Mark Dacascos learned how to ride a horse, studied Mohawk Indian culture, and became fluent in French.

[oscar]

There really was a "Beast of Gévaudan". Historical records of its attacks, which served as a loose inspiration for the movie, allege that it was a wolf-like creature, though often described with fanciful or demonic features including an unusual color, a supposed resistance to bullets, and cloven hooves. Various explanations for the Beast's nature and behavior have been proposed over the years, ranging from a trained mastiff-wolf hybrid to a member of an exotic species like an Asian Hyena; in the film, the animal is a lion in spiked metal armor. No evidence has ever been found to suggest that the Beast was anything other than an unusually large and aggressive wolf. In fact, some modern researchers blame the attacks (which sometimes occurred in rather distant areas within a short time) not on a single animal but on multiple wolves stalking the region. Officially, as in the film, the Beast was a large gray wolf killed by the King's hunters in September 1765. However, further attacks plagued the region until June 1767, when a local hunter shot a wolf which, upon examination, was found to have human flesh in its stomach, and is now generally believed to have been the real "Beast of Gévaudan."

[melinda]

There actually was a Beast of Gévaudan (La Bête du Gévaudan) which was a real wolf-like creature that prowled the Auvergne and South Dordogne regions of France during the years 1764 to 1767, killing about 100 people, often in bizarre circumstances.

[ronnie]

Universal Pictures paid $2 million for the rights to distribute this movie in the United States, and this movie went on grossing $11.2 million in limited theatrical release in the United States, making it the second-highest-grossing French-language movie in the United States since 1980 (this movie also did brisk video and DVD sales in the United States).

[leo]

A deleted scene in the DVD revealed that Monica Bellucci's character, Sylvia, was in fact the only person who knew the whole truth to both sides of the story regarding the beast. She secretly watched several members of the Brotherhood while they were visiting the bordello, and she manipulated Fronsac into finding and killing the beast. Her character is believed to have worked for the Vatican.

[lynn]

Apparently in the belief that no one outside France has any sense of history, the translators writing subtitles omitted a historical reference in old d'Apcher's memoir. The subtitles read, "The Revolution has swept the land," but in French he says, "The Revolution has become the Terror" (this may have been changed in some DVD versions).