Wolf Totem, an upcoming Chinese-language film based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Jiang Rong, is directed by French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, who began development of the project in 2009. The movie is filmed in 3D, and the story begins in Inner Mongolia.

The movie is set in 1969, when young Chinese student Chen Zhen is sent from Beijing to Inner Mongolia to teach shepherds. Instead, he learns from the shepherds and the bond they share with the wolves.

Academy Award winning director Jean-Jacques Annaud, famous for his movies "The Bear" in 1988 and "L'amant" in 1992, has been preparing to bring the story to the big screen for seven years, and started filming in July 2012.

The director and his team had to overcome harsh difficulties in the wild, such as low temperatures, bad weather, mosquito swarms and safety issues when dealing with wolves. Long, double fences kept 35 wild animals under control while they were being trained. The crew even raised young wolves in order to build an emotional connection with them.

Chinese actors Feng Shaofeng and Dou Xiao play the leading roles in the movie, and had to learn how get along with the wolves.

"The wolf trainer says don't let the Wolf get too excited to see you; If they don't like you at the first sight, then they won't like u for the rest of their life." said Feng.

And as people who read the novel will know, the story takes you to the heart of the grassland, and also teaches you things you never knew about wolves.