Happy Veterans Day, to all you humans and bears alike. From deadlinenews.com:
A BEAR renowned for its help in some of the most significant battles of the Second World War is to have a Hollywood film made about him.
Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear who drank two bottles of beer a day, fought alongside Polish soldiers during the war before spending his final years at Edinburgh zoo.
He was adopted by soldiers of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps in 1942 and helped move ammunition during the Battle of Monte Cassino.
Brendan Foley, a writer and director from Belfast, has bought the film rights for Wojtek the Bear and plans to bring his story to the big screen with Ned Dowd, who worked as the producer on Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.
Mr Foley said: “It is an amazing story- a bit like War Horse but with humour and pathos alongside the action, and the bear is a real character.”
One of the studios believed to be interested is Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, which made War Horse.
Mr Foley said: “Making a major film is always a long process, but we very much hope that some of the work and the locations will be in Scotland, where the bear and his soldier minders ended up after the war.”
