Grey Owl is a 1998 biopic

Biographical film

A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...

 directed by Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

 and starring Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...

 in the role of real life British schoolboy turned Indian trapper "Grey Owl," Archibald Belaney

Grey Owl

Grey Owl was the name Archibald Belaney adopted when he took on a First Nations identity as an adult...

 (1888 – 1938), and Annie Galipeau as his wife Anahareo. With brief appearances by Graham Greene

Graham Greene (actor)

Graham Greene is a Canadian actor who has worked on stage, and in film and TV productions in Canada, England and the United States.-Early life:...

 and others. The screenplay was written by William Nicholson

William Nicholson (writer)

William Nicholson FRSL is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist.-Family:A native of Lewes, Sussex, William Nicholson was raised in a Catholic family in Gloucestershire. By the time he reached his tenth birthday, he had decided to become a writer. He was educated at Downside School,...

. It was shot in the English city of Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

's cities Chelsea

Chelsea, Quebec

Chelsea is a municipality located immediately north of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada and about 7 miles north of Ottawa. Chelsea is located within Canada's National Capital Region. In 2006 the population was 6,703....

 and Wakefield

Wakefield, Quebec

Wakefield is a village on the western shore of the Gatineau River, at the confluence of the La Pêche River in the Outaouais region of Quebec. The village, named after the town of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, is now the southern edge of the municipality of La Pêche, and was founded in 1830...

, Jacques Cartier Park

Jacques Cartier Park

Jacques Cartier Park is a park in Gatineau, Quebec, across the river from the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. It is named for French explorer Jacques Cartier, who arrived at the mouth of the Ottawa River while he was looking for the Northwest Passage. The National Capital Commission uses the...

 and Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

's Prince Albert National Park

Prince Albert National Park

Prince Albert National Park covers in central Saskatchewan, Canada and is located north of Saskatoon. Though declared a national park March 24, 1927, it had its official opening ceremonies on August 10, 1928 performed by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. The park is open all year but...

.

Richard Attenborough in interview said that he and his brother David Attenborough

David Attenborough

Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...

 had attended "Grey Owl"'s De Montfort Hall

De Montfort Hall

De Montfort Hall is a music and performance venue in Leicester, England. It is situated adjacent to Victoria Park and is named after Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester.-History:...

, Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 lecture in 1936, depicted in the film, and been influenced by his advocacy of conservation.

Reception

The film met average reviews. William Gallagher of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

said, "if you like cuddly animals or you fancy Pierce Brosnan, you're in luck".