Bethune: The Making of a Hero

Norman Bethune was a Canadian surgeon who died in China in 1939

Ted Allan, a correspondent for the Communist Party of Canada's newspaper, met Norman Bethune in Spain at age 18 and started writing about him in 1940.[3][4] The two last met in 1937, and Bethune died from blood poisoning in China in 1939.[5] In 1942, Allan sold his 185-page script based on the life of Bethune to 20th Century Fox for around USD$25,000 (equivalent to $447,760 in 2022), but the film was not produced.[6][7]

The Red Scare prevented further development of the film and Allan left the United States for Toronto in 1950.[8] Allan and Sydney Gordon wrote The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune in 1952, which sold 1.5 million copies. Waymin Situ, the head of the China Film Bureau, asked Allan to write a script for a Bethune film in 1957. Allan and Gordon went to China in 1958, but Allan believed that he could not write the film as wanted by the Chinese. Gordon stayed in China, but did not write a script. The two did not cooperate again and Gordon refused to help in film deals until his death in 1985.[9][10]

From the 1940s to 1970s the title of the script changed between Bethune, Lifetide, The Long March, and Making of a Hero. Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. considered producing the script.[6] Allan wrote a script for Edward Lewis in 1969, but it was not produced. Between 1975 and 1978 Allan presented four versions of the script to Columbia after the success of Lies My Father Told Me, but none were produced.[5] Lewis also commissioned a script from Gordon and Otto Preminger, who Gordon sold his half of the rights of The Scalpel, the Sword to, wanted to produce it despite it not being written. Allan refused to sell his rights stating that "I didn't want Preminger to direct it". Allan bought his script back from 20th Century Fox after being commissioned by Lewis.[11][12] CAN$10,000 (equivalent to $45,531 in 2021) was invested by the Canadian Film Development Corporation into Ted Allan's first-draft script in 1976. John Kemeny secured additional investment from Columbia. Allan, Norman Jewison, Kemeny, and Michael Spencer travelled to China, with CFDC funding.[13] Between 1975 and 1978, Allan rewrote the script four times for each new head of Columbia.[14]

Warner Bros. stated that they would only finance the film if a major star was cast as Bethune. Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, and Warren Beatty were listed as possible options. Redford was interested, but requested a rewrite of the script which kemeny and Kotcheff could not finance. Jewison proposed making a television series, but all of the networks declined.[15]

In June 1980, Kemeny and Denis Héroux announced a plan to create Bethune-The Long March on a budget of $25 million. Ted Kotcheff was attached to direct the film. Kemeny and Kotcheff tried to negotiate a deal with the China Film Corporation and August First Film Studio. Filming was meant to start in February 1981, but financial troubles resulted in the rights reverting to Allan.[16] Kemeny left the project in 1984.[17][5]

Nicolas Clermont and Pieter Kroonenburg became involved in 1985, after being shown the script by Allan's daughter Julie, who worked for their company Filmline.[6][7][18] Kroonenburg was first made aware of the project by Gilles Carle in 1984.[19] Filmline purchased the script for $5,000.[20] Julie also negotiated with the Chinese government and the film was given support from August First Film Studio while the Chinese received the distribution rights for China and eastern Europe. Clermont stated that "What it cost Bertolucci and Spielberg $5 million to $6 million to shoot in China cost us nothing". French producer Jacques Dorfmann joined the production and was given the distribution rights for Europe.[6][7] According to Kroonenburg the deal with China was worth $3–4 million and aided in filming the movie in five provinces.[21] Chinese screenwriter Li Bai edited the script.[22]

Kroonenburg and Clermont were interested in having an European coproducer. Leo Pescarolo, an Italian producer whose brother-in-law worked on the Marco Polo miniseries in China, was interested in the project, but was unable to work out a deal. Dorfmann was making A Woman of Shanghai in China, but needed funding. Dorfmann agreed to become a minority coproducer for Bethune in exchange for Kroonenburg and Clermont being minority coproducers for his film.[23]

Jewison considered directing the film, but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts[17] with Moonstruck. Sidney J. Furie was offered the position, but stated that he could only do it if the film was delayed. Kotcheff was attached to direct the film, but left due to payment disputes after only being offered $500,000. Kotcheff also believed that the film's budget was not high enough and would encounter similar problems to Joshua Then and Now. Sutherland proposed Ralph L. Thomas, a friend of his and who directed a film he starred in. Thomas stated that the script needed major changes.[24][25][26][27] In January 1987, Phillip Borsos, who had been out of work for eighteen months and multiple recent projects cancelled, was selected to direct.[17][28]

In the 1940s Darryl F. Zanuck wanted Walter Pidgeon to play Bethune, Pidgeon later portrayed him in a radio drama.[29][3] Sean Connery, Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Plummer, and Redford were interested in playing Bethune, but Donald Sutherland, who previously played Bethune in a CBC Television movie, was selected.[30] Sutherland previously attempted to create a $40 million film based on Roderick Stewart's Bethune biography with Gillo Pontecorvo directing.[18]

Donald Sutherland, who played Bethune and attempted to make a $40 million film about him.

An agreement in 1986 divided the budget with $5 million coming from Canada, $3 million from China, and $2 million from France.[31] An agreement signed by Minister of Communications Flora MacDonald and Ai Zhisheng on 23 February 1987, listed the budget of the film as $13.5 million.[32] Hemdale Film Corporation bought the United States distribution rights for $2.5 million and Telefilm invested $8.2 million. The film's budget rose from $11 million to between $15–20 million.[33][34][7] It was the most expensive film in Canadian history at the time until Shadow of the Wolf.[35][36]

The film was in production for five years.[35] The film was shot in China from 15 April to 4 August 1987, although filming was halted for one week in May due to the Canadian production crew protesting the poor working conditions.[7][37][38][39][40] The protest increased the film's budget by $50,000.[41] Further production was halted for a year due to financial problems until Telefilm granted another $2.5 million to the production.[42][43][7] Jane Birkin was initially cast to play Frances Bethune, but was unavailable for shooting in Spain and was replaced by Helen Mirren.[44] Shooting was completed in Canada and Spain by 23 December 1988.[44] MacDonald ordered Telefilm to complete the movie at any cost, but the Canadian government's support for the film waned after the Tiananmen Square Massacre.[7][45]

Bob McKeown produced Strangers in a Strange Land, a documentary about the filming of Bethune: The Making of a Hero in China, and it was shown at the 1988 Toronto International Film Festival.[43] The film cost $200,000, with Filmline and the documentary producers evenly dividing the cost. Filmline refused to approve the documentary airing on television as they felt it was too negative.[46]

Communication issues between the English and Chinese speaking crew troubled the production. Neil Trifunovich, the special effects coordinator, stated that "The Chinese couldn’t understand why we would not blow up a real mule. They wanted to put explosives on the side of the animal’s head." when they were filming a scene of an artillery attack on a mule train. 2,000 extras from villages in Wutai County were used for Bethune's funeral scene.[47]

A Japanese plane could not be found in China for a scene of an attack against Bethune's caravan, but was found in Canada. However, the Chinese could not find somebody to fly it and a foreign pilot would not be allowed to fly over a military sensitive area. A model plane, that arrived months late, was given to the production, but it was destroyed in a test flight. Sutherland stated "Thankfully, the pilot was unhurt".[47]

Allan criticized Sutherland as "egomaniacal" and for wanting the script rewritten.[48] Allan, whose contract with Filmline required his permission to be granted to any script changes, approved Don Miller to be a script doctor while Dennis Miller was hired by Sutherland.[49][40] Sutherland claimed that "Ted’s script was pretentious and two-dimensional and unplayable" and that the script was rewritten by Dennis Clark, one of the three uncredited writers. Clark also claimed that he wrote the film and stated that "Contractually, I shouldn’t be talking to you, but the producers haven’t paid me for my last year of work, so I have no qualms about it", as he was still owed $30,000 for his work on the film. Borsos stated that there were thirty-three drafts of the film, and that Clark wrote most of the film. Clermont stated that Clark's claims were "totally ridiculous" and that he should either file a union grievance or "shut up".[7]

Clark and Helen Shaver had to pay for their return to Canada from China themselves.[7]

The edit proposed by Borsos, telling the film in chronological order, was rejected by the producers, Telefilm, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in September 1989. The film was instead edited, without the involvement of Borsos, to be shown as a series of flashbacks.[7] Borsos' version of the film was 150 minutes long while the version accepted by the producers was 116 minutes long.[50]