The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • 26

The Leader-Post Regina Feb. 27, 1987 10 Entertainment that represented Canada to honor his coffin. They did find an American flag. Im going to run into all sorts of I01165- ney, Bethunes Scottish wife. It was married to each other.

1939 of blood-poisoning after opera- trouble over that American flag, One critical casting choice is for an obsessive love affair that saw the For Borsos, there is an ironic foot- ting on a Chinese soldier. Yet the sighed Borsos, but Ive got the pho-the role of Frances Campbell Pen- C0Upe twice divorced and thrice note. Bethune, 49, died a martyr in Chinese could not find an emblem tograph to prove it." SSDEES? QB 0232lb By Ina Warren The Canadian Press Six years ago, a lanky young Vancouverite-headed for the Rockies to make his first low-budget feature movie, a film about an elderly tram bandit called The Grey Fox. These days, Phillip Borsos is preparing for a history-making shoot in Chinas Wutai mountains. The movie is about Norman Bethune, the enigmatic Canadian surgeon who became a battlefront hero of the Chinese Communist revolution.

Starring Donald Sutherland and a gast of thousands, the $16-million co-production to be shot in Canada, China and Spain promises the scope of movie epics like Dr. Reds and Lawrence of Arabia. People have been trying to put Bethune on the big screen for more -than 40 years and the names of di-erectors vying to do it have included John Kemeny, Norman Jewison and -Ted Kotcheff. Phillip Borsos ft If lilt MIMA, 1(01 COHIUIIOIS. IK and SMART lit PttIUllS FRtWIIOI i (081(1 SUM ft IICMt 01 IlM SIM, PARI 3 DREAM DAMNS HEATHER IANIAMP PATRICIA AROUETTE LARRY IISHK PRISCHIA POINTER CRAIG WASSON wta- JOHN IftlOl DICE CAM BA ISA GABOR ITROBTRI ENGlUlTTREOBYTBGflil tn iiimni Ht ANNETTE BENSON 1 1 1 AIE1I0 mill wmiIE CRAVEI SHI DIIIEN IACH1I TAIAEAY GERALD 1 01SDI im NOT WAGIEH im.

SARA RISHEI WES CRAYEI BRUCE WAGNER WES CRAVEI 1 1AUCE WAGIER a CH1ICE NBSSItl i HAW OANABOI1 Man ODBENI SHAIE-md CHOU RUSSIll BAD III PAPEROACI FROM SI MAR11N PRESS 1 From Uf NEW LINE CINEMA twmmmmm Shows 7:15 and 9:25 Saturday and Sunday 2:05, 7:15, 9:25 GENERAL Shows Sat. Sun. 2.00 p.m. Open 1:30 p.m. and Youth $3.50 RESTRICTED (Horror scenes) CLASSIC Jad 2102 WILLIAM HURT QtUdrmqfa Josser god 5 ACADEMY I Shows Adults A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION 11 Ih Ave 522-3998 mm AWARD NOMINATIONS PARENTAL GUIDANCE (offensive languaqe) at 645 and 9 00 m.

CORNWALL 2102-11 Ih Ave 522-3998 fXV IBH-MMSM 2102-11 Ih Ave 522-3998 M'lKOKHM I'll TIKI I miM OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE IS "A NUTTY ROMP A BEST BET." NBC-TV TODAY, Gene Shalit "HUGELY ENTERTAINING MACLEANS, Peter O-Toole SHELLEY LONG BETTE MIDLER With shooting to start in mid- the Canadian producer Film-line International surprised every-v'one by signing Borsos a hot -property after his award-winning The Grey Fox, and the com--T mercial successes of The Mean and One Magic Christmas. Filmline producer Pieter 2 Kroonenburg says that when talks with Kotcheff ran into a stumbling block over money, they turned to Borsos who was suddenly free when a Hollywood project fell through, He said Borsos brings a totally fresh view to the Bethune story. I Moreover, the 33-year-old director has the kind of youthful energy it will take to make this movie work internationally. Recently returned from his first visit to China, Borsos is already melding the Bethune story with his own romantic vision. Last year I said to myself a cou-y pie of times that I wanted to go back to the mountains and do another movie, the relaxed, jean-clad Bor-t sos said during an interview in Montreal.

So I got this phone call and I re- alized maybe I was going back to the mountains in more than one way. Beginning with his early docu-Imentaries (Cooperage, Spartree, Nails) and later his feature films, Borsos has shown a talent for mak- ing the landscape as memorable as the actors or the story. All the more reason why Borsos Seems right for Bethune. In China, he was struck by the quality of the light. There are coal- fires everywhere.

They provide a i slight, yellow haze to everything. TAnd theres yellow dust everywhere, leached out of the mountains over eons. -Bethune will be the first official cp-production between Canada and China. The co-production agree-i ment was signed Monday by Com- rtlunications Minister Flora Mac- Donald and Ai Zhisheng, Chinas minister of theatre, TV and films. -Borsos is pleased with what the Chinese can contribute to the project, which will include a TV mini-series.

One role Borsos cannot cast is the actor who plays the young Mao Tse- tung. It seems Chinese cinema has 5 an official Mao look-alike whos got monopoly on the role, -The Chinese are superb at cos- tpmes, scenery and special effects, noted Borsos. And, laughs the direc- tor, who was in Peking during the Chinese New Year, they really do explosions well it was like 1,000 fourth of Julys. While the Chinese have been surprised by some of the material in iTed Allans warts-and-all screen-t play about Bethune, Borsos said they also love it. They didnt know a thing about Bethunes life (outside oT China)." -Conversely, westerners dont know a thing about Bethune in Chi-na.

They know what the newspapers said, and a lot of that was propaganda. i -Allans screenplay was entitled Bethune: The Making of a Hero. Borsos wants a new title because if 1 we treat him as a hero, then the pie- litre wont work. The man had insane rages, he threw surgical instruments around operating theatres, he obnoxiously abused people, You cant sugar-coat Bethune, you have to deliver this character and, boy, you love this guy. You cry when he dies." Borsos will have to marry his vi- sion of Bethune with that of the 53-4 year-old Sutherland, who once -played Bethune in a CBC production -and has long been obsessed with '-lining the movie.

When Borsos saw him recently, had shaved his head and 20 pounds for the role, lie was Bethune. He is Norman Bethune," -4-.