VIEWS OF THE GRASSLAND
expected to follow human instructions, Bayaneruul says he adopted a documentary style to shoot the TV drama. All the shots related to animals are real footage to be edited later.
“I regard it a responsibility to present the real life in our steppes. Back in the ’80s, the herders had only a few kinds of animals, but now they have many. And the life and folk customs across the steppes vary. Funerals in different districts are different from each other. So if we make mistakes in such details, it will be a scandal,” he says.
Another problem is the setting. In the 1980s, people lived in yurts, then they settled down living in mud houses, and later concrete houses.
“But now you cannot find a mud house anywhere and we had no time to build one, so we had to reduce shootings related to such buildings.”
Bayaneruul says the challenges he faced has turned his hair gray. He slept for only two hours a day while shooting.
The director was born in Erdos, and his family used to live a nomadic life. Eventually, hewenttohighschoolinacity, but during his holidays he would return to the grasslands to look after the animals. He fell in love with films in his young days after watching them at an open-air theater in Erdos during the summer.
After high school he went to Shanghai Theater Academy to study theater and performance. In 1999, he completed his studies in film direction from Beijing Film Academy. Contact the writer at yangyangs@ chinadaily.com.cn
“Because they are a lot smarter than we are, and if you are stupid enough to challenge them you will be taken out in three seconds.”
Alien: Covenant, the second of the prequel films, is set in 2104 onboard a spaceship carrying 2,000 cryogenically frozen colonists to a distant planet when they chance upon an uncharted paradise. But their voyage soon turns into a gory nightmare that makes the original Alien “chestbuster” scene seem tame in comparison.
The “neomorph” aliens in the new film are based on the goblin shark “which has a jaw which hinges in two ways. It’s scary, hideous beyond belief actually”, says Scott, the 79-year-old British-born director, who was also the brains behind Blade Runner.
“When I did the first Alien, I had to get a sense of responsibility because the reaction to the kitchen scene with John Hurt was beyond anything I expected — and it was not good,” he says.
“But the film was very successful because people are perverse.”
He says he could not believe the terror he had created when he went to see people watching the film.
“Everybody was half underneath the seat watching by the time you get to the kitchen scene. There was a woman underneath the seat with her husband holding her. I said this is not healthy.”
Scott, however, claims that he was not shocked.
“If there is a problem I tend to close down into calm. When you walk in, in the morning, on a film and 600 people turn and all look at you, that is scary,” he says.
Alien: Covenant opens across the world from May 10.