Because in the wild, male bears usually eat bear cubs if they can, the filmmakers prepared the adult Bart the Bear for the cub by having him play with a teddy bear the size and fur color of the cub. When the trainers felt he was ready, he was introduced to the cub and he greeted the cub affectionately.
Jim Henson 's Creature Shop was hired to make five animatronic bears to act as stand-ins for the real ones and to avoid any cruelty to animals. The animatronics were created on a tight schedule and were based on photographs of the actual bears. However, once transported to the set on the slopes of the Dolomites it became apparent that the fake bears didn't resemble the real ones enough. They ended up on screen for only a few seconds.
It took 6 years of preparation to start filming. The movie was then shot in 8 months.
A small campaign was launched for the 62nd Academy Awards to get Bart the Bear an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, with defenders arguing the bear gave such a moving performance, and hence he should be the first animal actor to receive a mention in that category. However, the campaign was squashed by the Academy, who said they would not permit non-human actors to be nominated.
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