Project Grizzly is a 1996

1996 in film

Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

 National Film Board of Canada

National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...

 documentary about the lifelong project of Troy Hurtubise

Troy Hurtubise

Troy James Hurtubise is an inventor and conservationist from North Bay, Ontario, Canada noted for his often bizarre creations that he tests on himself in spectacular ways...

, a man who has been obsessed with researching the Canadian grizzly bear

Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

 up close, ever since surviving an early encounter with such a bear.

Plot

The film documents Hurtubise's diligent work to improve his homemade "grizzly-proof" suit of armour, his efforts to test its resilience, and his forays into the Rockies to track down the grizzlies he dreams of meeting. The film manages to capture the humor of the project as well as its sincerity. It is directed by Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch (director)

Peter Lynch is an Canadian filmmaker, the director and writer of Project Grizzly and Cyberman.Lynch won a Genie Award for his short film Arrowhead, starring Don McKellar.He attended York University in Toronto, Canada.-Early life:...

 and produced by Michael Allder.

Cultural references

• Troy Hurtubise was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize
  Ig Nobel Prize
  The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...
  
   by the scientific humor journal Annals of Improbable Research
  Annals of Improbable Research
  The Annals of Improbable Research is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to scientific humor, in the form of a satirical take on the standard academic journal...
  
   (AIR). http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2004-04-19/663.asp
• Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino called the film one of his top picks of the year on Charlie Rose
  Charlie Rose (talk show)
  Charlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated...
  
  .
• Hurtubise's armored suit was parodied in The Simpsons
  The Simpsons
  The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
  
  episode "The Fat and the Furriest
  The Fat and the Furriest
  "The Fat and the Furriest" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, which originally aired November 30, 2003. The episode is about Homer fighting a bear.-Plot:...
  
  ", when Homer is attacked by a bear, and then constructs a bear attack proof suit.
• The suit was referenced in Loading Ready Run's ninth episode of Commodore Hustle, where they make a mock version of the suit, which they use to attempt to meet a bear.
• The movie was playing in the background in a deleted scene of "Talladega Nights, The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" in which Ricky is explaining to his mother how he had spent his day.
• A clip of Troy being hit by a log in his suit featured in Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
  Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
  Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
  
   during an interview of Robert Downey, Jr., in reference to the film Iron Man 2
  Iron Man 2
  Iron Man 2 is a 2010 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to 2008's Iron Man, the second film in a planned trilogy and is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Jon...
  
  .
• The same clip of Troy being hit by a log in his suit was used in Dinner for Schmucks
  Dinner for Schmucks
  Dinner for Schmucks, a 2010 screwball comedy film, is the American adaptation of the French film Le Dîner de Cons , being described by the director as "inspired by" the original rather than a remake of it...
  
  shown as an example of a former idiot that had attended the dinner.