Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Canine celebrities
REMEMBER ROMEO, the purse-snatching dog in "Magic Magic"? He is no ordinary canine, but an animal celebrity who has played lead roles in several Hollywood productions.
Barkley is his original name. Romeo and his co-stars, Marcello the poodle with whom Romeo is in love, and Barnum the boxer dog who is competing with Romeo for the poodle's attention, belong to one of the major animal suppliers based in America called `Animal Actors'. (Some of their movie credits include "American Beauty", "Men in Black", "Silence of the Lambs", "Sheena Queen of Jungle", "Ladyhawk", "Out of Africa", "Naked Gun", "Hook", "Water World", "Baby's Day Out", "Home Alone Part 2", "Living Free" and "Gremlins".
Says Appachan, producer of the movie, "Barkley was one of the best trained dogs at Animal Actors. He was able to perform most of the actions in the script without prior training."
The movie, proposed to be filmed in Manhattan and New York, had to be cut short owing to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre (WTC). "We were forced to complete the movie on the Navodaya sets in India." For Appachan, this meant transporting the animal actors along with experienced wranglers (dog trainers) to the country.
"Since it was difficult for the dogs to get acclimatised to a new place, special arrangements were made to look after their welfare," says Appachan. The dogs were brought in cages fitted with fans and were provided five star accommodation, at the rate of Rs. 50,000 per day. A special hall was also identified inside the hotel for their training.
The shooting, which lasted a month, was assisted by two other lookalikes of Barkley. "The idea to use the doubles was to speed up production if Barkley fell sick, a standard practice in America when dogs play the lead role in a movie," says Appachan. The movie also features 38 other dogs, which are acting as Barkley's friends in chasing the villain, apart from a dog show, wherein the dogs display their skills.
The movie released in April is produced in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
