Director Jean-Jacques Annaud believes Le Portier's job could one day cost him his life.

CNN: Meet the man who turns big cats into movie stars

Le Portier quickly became a specialist of big-cat scenes and after Pasolini came other famous screen directors such as Jean-Jacques Annaud with "Two Brothers, " Ridley Scott with "Gladiator, " and more recently Ang Lee with "Life of Pi, " which stars a digital tiger.

CNN: Meet the man who turns big cats into movie stars

But instead of rethinking the shape of the drama to suit the format, the director, Jean-Jacques Annaud, has taken a small, simplistic plot, filled a couple of lonely roles with flat performers, and marooned them in the midst of a spectacle that is not so much a movie as a demonstration.

NEWYORKER: Wings of Courage