A Challenge Embraced

The new Imax film “China: The Panda Adventure,” tells the true-life story of Ruth McCombs Harkness, a widowed New York socialite who journeyed deep into the mysterious forests of China in 1936 and brought back to civilization the first live giant panda. Actress Maria Bello (“Coyote Ugly,” “Payback”), who plays Harkness, says that working on the film was something of an adventure in itself.

“I wanted to work in a new format to experiment with how a narrative would translate to the large-format film,” the actress says of the film, which opens Friday. Based on Harkness’ 1938 autobiography, “The Lady and the Panda,” the screenplay by Jeanne Rosenberg (“The Black Stallion,” “The Journey of Natty Gann”) tells the dramatic story of Harkness’ 1,500-mile trek up the Yangtze River to the Min Valley in a race with an English hunter (Xander Berkeley) who is determined to hunt down a giant panda.

“I loved the strength of Ruth Harkness,” says Bello. “I loved the book. But Ruth was quite different from the character I portrayed in the film. She was already pretty tough at the start of her adventure in the book. The screenplay for the film showed more of a progression of her character, and I chose to play her as more vulnerable at first. Then she finds herself, her freedom, and a new reason to live.”

Harkness initially traveled to China to retrieve the ashes of her late husband, Bill. Bill Harkness believed that the giant panda, one of the few wild animals not held anywhere in captivity by 1936, was not the terrifically fierce creature that game hunters said it was. The nighttime interior scene in which Harkness retrieves the urn containing her late husband’s ashes was the first to be shot during production and presented quite a surprise to the actress.

“We’re filming the most intimate scene in the movie the first night we get there,” says Bello. “I do my preparation outside the house of the dead; I walk in and I hear what sounds like a vacuum cleaner! I had to yell ‘Cut!’ I said, ‘What is that? Is there a problem?’ ‘No,’ they said. ‘That’s the noise the camera makes.’ No one told me beforehand the large-format camera makes so much noise.”

In fact, dialogue for this film, as with most Imax features, was recorded in post-production. Synchronized sound captured during filming was used as a guide track only. Working with director Bob Young, Bello had to raise the level of her delivery.

“We had to talk really loud,” recalls Bello. “But after a few days, I found a rhythm that worked and focused to prepare myself before the camera started rolling.”

Bello has had considerable acting experience in the theater and on television, where she is most recognized as the passionate and headstrong pediatrician Dr. Anna Del Amico on the series “ER.” Her feature films include “Duets.” But working for the large-format camera required Bello to make some changes to her conventional acting style.

“I wanted to keep everything really simple,” she says. “That’s what making this film was about for me, because every tiny little action would show up on the big screen.”

She notes that the large-format screen also gives actors more freedom of movement and gesture, and in expression. “With the story and text, I couldn’t help but to be more physically expansive,” she notes. “You’ll notice that I’m constantly trekking someplace, over falling streams or running. There is constant movement, and I think the large format lends itself to that.”

In portraying Harkness’ arduous journey, the actress had to journey down rushing rivers, traverse canyons and climb steep mountains on foot during three months of production in China. Sometimes, just getting to the location was exhausting.

“At one location, we lived on a boat,” says Bello. “We would have to take a boat to the shore in the morning, get in a car and drive two hours through the hills of China to a place near the Yangtze River, get on another boat and river raft 45 minutes down to our location. We could only shoot for six hours because it took so long to get there. Then, at the end of the day, we would take the river raft back again.”

After her grueling trek to the Min Valley, Harkness rescued a baby giant panda. Today, as few as a thousand giant pandas survive in the forests of south-central China. For Bello, the giant panda is a special creature, not only because of its endangered status.

“My favorite part of making this film was working with the pandas,” she says. “They are like human babies, with such a spirit that you forget they are animals.

“I feel privileged to be one of the only people in the world to be able to hold them.”

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“China: The Panda Adventure” opens today exclusively at Universal Studios Imax at Universal CityWalk, Lankershim and the 101 Freeway, (818) 760-8828.