Bear Laid Bare

Bruno became a global celebrity in 2006 as German animal lovers pleaded for its life while people worried it would maul a child. Attempts to trap Bruno failed, so it was shot, stuffed and put in a Munich museum.

BR said the fictionalized story would revolve around a love affair between a Tyrolean hunter and a lady animal lover who goes around on all fours wearing a bearskin. The genuine bear corners the hunter, but mercifully lets him go and lives to raid another day.

Conan, Fabienne, Trapper, Ying and Yang, the five circus bears cast as the marauding bear, are aged 9 to 22, considerably older than Bruno, which was shot at the age of two on the German side of the Alps. The final title of the film has not been set.

BR said filming had begun on location in Tyrol, Austria, with Austrian broadcaster ORF as co-producer.