Based on true events, Grizzly Night is a terrifying survival thriller that follows a rookie park ranger thrust into the fight of her life when Glacier National Park becomes the scene of deadly grizzly attacks.
As panic spreads and communication breaks down, she must lead a group of frightened strangers through the darkness, confronting both the untamed wilderness and her own fears. What begins as a quiet summer evening turns into a night of chaos that changes the nation’s understanding of wildlife forever.
Earlier this week, we sat down with Grizzly Night star Oded Fehr to discuss his role as a doctor who has to deal with the aftermath of these violent bear attacks (all while protecting his family) in the movie.
During the course of our conversation, the actor opens up on what drew him to this project, how he approached the character, bringing his own experiences and viewpoints to the table, and the benefit that comes with shooting in real-world locations.
Fehr also talks about plans to revive The Mummy franchise with Brendan Fraser, which you can learn more about here.
You can check out our full interview with Fehr on Grizzly Night, The Mummy 4, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy below.
You've been part of huge franchises like The Mummy, Star Trek, and Destiny, but when it came to Grizzly Night, I'd love to know what drew you to this project.
The script was good. Usually, with independent movies, it's hit or miss. I thought the script was great and was happy to do it. It ended up being a great experience, on top of which shooting in Utah was absolutely stunning and beautiful. A lot of hiking—it was really nice, great bunch of people.
This is one of those animal survival thrillers in the same vein as Jaws in some ways. Was that something you'd been wanting to tick off your bucket list as an actor at all?
No. It's funny, I don't really have a bucket list per se. Maybe I did when I was younger. I've been doing this for 25 years, and it's important for me to do things that are a good read and projects that have really lovely people. I've done projects that were not a good read but had really lovely people and were not the best projects. But you do this long enough, and it's really important that the environment you're working in is good.
The film is based on real-life events from Montana in 1967. How does that change your approach as an actor and how you then take on a character like John, who is so pivotal to the story?
To me, the significance of this movie and the story it tells is the change of mindset we had before and after these events. The fact that we're a lot more careful about minimising the human effect on natural life, when it comes to our trash, when it comes to getting too close to the bears. The mindset has changed from 'it's like a zoo, you get to do whatever you want, throw food at them' to 'we have to be very careful. We can't get them involved in our lives. We have to let them live in their natural surroundings.' Then we have a much better chance of not having incidents like what happens in the movie.
John, as a doctor, has to deal with the aftermath of these quite horrific injuries. They do a great job in the film of portraying those in a very real and brutal way. What were those days like on set for you, stepping into this doctor's shoes and "helping" these people?
I'm not a real doctor, but I've played one many times on television, so it kind of came pretty naturally to me. But it's challenging and fun. It's fun doing these kinds of dramatic sequences that are heartbreaking. You really have to find those emotions and be real with them, yet still behave like a doctor, because doctors can, at some point, separate themselves a little more from it. So finding those moments: how emotional would the doctor get, or would he just be working and then allow himself to get emotional later? It was obviously a very sad happening in an environment where you are going on vacation, camping, and so on. It's a very sad thing, both for the humans and for the animals. There was a lot of drama to play with.
You mentioned filming in Utah. To be in those surroundings—obviously very similar to where these people would have been in the 1960s—was that helpful for your performance and to almost step into their shoes, compared to being on the volume or green screen or in a studio?
Filming outdoors in nature, in much more real-life situations, is much easier than green screen. And personally, it's a lot more fun than green screen. It was beautiful. It was a beautiful place we filmed in that allowed us to drive up into the mountains to get to set every day. You'd see a lot of deer and wildlife, and I think boars. We actually saw a mom moose and a baby moose one night—it was very impressive. Yeah, really beautiful.
I have read that the movie utilised a real trained bear. Did you ever get up close and personal with that bear? Did you see it on set, or did that change the experience?
Most definitely saw the bear on set and never got to come up close and personal—which I'm very happy about. Though the bear seemed so cute in a certain way. But yeah, it was interesting to see the trainer and how he was working with him and how he was handling the animal. There were very strict rules about what we were allowed and not allowed to do before the bear came over. Not entirely sure, I remember exactly, but there was a lot about our food and where we were stepping and so on because they can smell. But it was very impressive.
I did love that the film is really about respecting wildlife and nature. As you said yourself, there was really a before and after with this incident and how it changed things. Coming into this film, did you have a lot of thoughts on that balance?
I'd like to think that I have great respect for wildlife and great admiration for wildlife, and trying to do my part. I live in Austin, Texas, which is a big hunting state. And it's something that is so strange to me. On the one hand, on the other, truthfully, I have friends who are hunters, and all they eat is the meat they hunt, and they use it all. That kind of makes you think: well, it seems very violent to go hunting, but wouldn't that be better than the mass-produced meat industry that we have, which has so much waste, as well as the fact that the animals many times don't get to grow naturally? In Texas, you have farms everywhere where the cows are allowed to roam free and so on. So it's interesting. It's a kind of conflicted way of thinking. I'm not entirely sure, but I try to live my life just being as conscientious about wildlife and our world as much as I can.
This film is a really interesting mix of genres. There's a little bit of horror, obviously it's based on facts, and it's a drama. When you're approaching a film like this that plays in all those different places, does that present any unique challenges to you as an actor?
Yeah. I mean, it's not a horror like Resident Evil, which was more of a horror kind of film. As an actor, you always try to find the truth in things. Even if it's a horror, you have to find the truth in the horror. So it's all kinds of different levels of similar things. As I said before, you're playing a doctor who—actually, in real life, the character was two different doctors, and they combined it into one. But you try to think of a family man who has a young daughter at the same age as one of the victims, and if I remember correctly, he was a general surgeon. So he is used to dealing with bad injuries and emergencies. But then again, he's in this environment of going on vacation with his family, and what does it mean for his daughter to witness and experience all of this and so on? So it was challenging and fun to try to find the truth in that story.
Some of my favourite scenes in the film are with you and Lauren Call. I know she's a newer actress on the scene. So what was it like to work with her? Being a veteran actor yourself, did you impart any advice?
Acting is the art of reacting. I can't tell you specific moments where I suggested anything or so on. But we suggest things all the time. The greatest moments I've ever had on screen were all collaborations with somebody else and ideas that a friend had or an actor ha,d or a director had. And I think it felt very much like that on set there—the ability to collaborate together and figure things out together. So you know, it's all a learning experience. I mean, I remember working with Sean Penn, and he was talking about the fact that he's still learning. So we're all in the same boat.
I've mentioned some of my favourite projects of yours that you've been in, but obviously, this has a really strong message. What would you like audiences to take away from watching this film?
Anytime that we can tell a story that helps us remember that this world belongs to many different creatures, and we should try to respect it.
Grizzly Night is now available on VOD and Digital.