You can’t herd cats, the idiom goes. While not technically true, trying to train a feline isn’t as easy a task as training a dog, horse, or pig to jump on command or pretend to like their Homo sapiens co-star. Those animals are more social pack animals. cats? They would rather sleep in the steering wheel well of your car than next to you.
That hasn’t stopped thousands of professionals, and some average people, from casting their pets in movies and TV shows. like this 1961 Life Photography It proves that if humans can’t make it, the best thing to do is live vicariously through your son or American Shorthair. At least cats can handle rejection, because getting a spot in a cat food ad or a feature film requires a special cat.
Cats come with their own eccentricities and dangers. Exotic tigers and lions are another can of worms, but even something that can fit under your arm is enough to turn an entire movie production upside down. Trying to get the beast to do what the script calls for requires as much creativity as luck. As anyone who has ever encountered a cat can tell you, they are not known for their predictability.
Before you get the impression that casting directors miraculously stumble upon inexplicably obedient felines while yours chews on your charging cables, Hollywood has a dark secret it’s not telling you.
No actor was injured in the making of this film
Close-ups of Donald Pleasance’s wardrobe in the rocket scene from you only live twice shows the aftermath of one of the biggest freak-outs in movie history. The fluffy white Turkish Angora he brought was under the actor’s control when the explosion occurs, but the damage marks on Blofeld’s beige suit are clearly visible. Pleasure wasn’t fun, as any cat owner can attest when a cat digs its claws into your ligaments. Cats are testy furry accessories, cute or not, and dealing with them can be a health risk.
Orangey, the memorable alley cat from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, he was so hostile that his tendency to attack the film crew earned him the nickname “the meanest cat in the world” from a terrified onlooker (via cats that changed the world). But trainer Frank Inn’s cat was in demand enough to make several dozen more appearances in a fairly short span of years. Talk about connections.
One of the most surreal scenes of meet the parents it was the brilliant work of a cat rather than that of a human. The bizarre task of potty training a cat on film fell to Dawn Barkan, an animal trainer with a long list of movies to her credit. His secret from her? positive reinforcement, that is lots of cat treats.
Even cats have agents
To capture the full emotional spectrum of the cat (friendly, hissing, sleeping, staring into space, curious, etc.), the task of Jonesy the cat in Alien, actually fell to four independent specialists. Same for the cat The princess’s Diary. That tells you everything you need to know about cats. They never do what you want when you need it, as recounted by Brent Spiner working with the numerous stormy spots in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
This is not unusual at all; the cat of the the coen brothers Inside Llewyn Davis needing three cats. And to ensure the correct animals are sourced, filmmakers will go to extremes of hosting a cat casting audition. seven kittens were needed to play the stolen cat in the 2016 film Keanu, which posed so many problems that many extras were needed on hand. According to director Peter Atencio, the tabby cats were chosen because their particular color is the easiest to match. This is useful when it inevitably becomes necessary to call double or triple the jack to get B-roll. Fourteen black cats were selected to play Rhubarb in the film of the same name, each performing a specialized stunt in one scene.
When directors find a cat for a movie, they have both the trainer and the cat to thank. Many cats that have made the big time were rescues. If animal trainers give them a chance at life, they can repay their owners in incredible ways. Iconic Morris the Cat of 9Lives earned the title “the Clark Gable of cats” for the affection he showed the director of the ad in 1968. Morris and his trainer Bob Martwick were set for life, the cat eventually even he got his obituary printed in newspapers across the country, which is more than some actors might hope for. Morris was loved and didn’t even know it. People take these things very seriously. Because in this business, an angry mob can even cost a poor cat his job.
“Saving the cat”
Joel Coen once joked that the inclusion of the cat in Inside Llewyn Davis it was by design. “The movie doesn’t really have a plot. That worried us at one point; that’s why we throw the cat”. Nothing gives a hero a kind nature like a soft spot for animals. We’re also not sure why so many villains had them, because it was impossible to see Don Vito Corleone as a bad guy in The Godfather when we are introduced to him playing with a kitten.
Jonesy the cute orange tabby cat in Alienis usually interpreted as directorridley scottThe attempt to show some kind of therapy animal to the wistful and bickering crew cooped up on the claustrophobic space freighter. Although the dichotomy of the crew charging around a ruthless fanged killing machine in its box (the cat) while fleeing like mice from another ruthless predator (the Xenomorph) in its own box, is an aspect of the film that has always been ignored for some reason. Maybe we were supposed to sympathize with the alien? This film raises more philosophical questions than even Prometheus.
Coen’s joke hides a deceptively salient point. Animals complicate one-dimensional people and humanize seemingly “tough” characters, giving writers more tools to tell a story without needing to waste a page on exposition or character building. The emotionally challenged data of star trek he looked at Spot in fascination. corben dallas in The fifth element he may be a tough guy, but the fact that he adores a cat he named “Sweetie” tells you all you really need to know about him as a human being.