The movie A Dog’s Purpose is supposed to be a sweet movie about a dog reincarnating through multiple breeds and becoming “Man’s Best Friend” for multiple owners. That sweetness sure didn’t translate to how the movie was filmed.
TMZ released behind-the-scenes video on the set of A Dog’s Purpose as filmmakers were supposed to film one of the dogs swimming through some rapidly moving water. The german shepherd wants nothing to do with being in the water because it looks incredibly dangerous but the human handlers try to force him in the water anyway to get the shot.
This video features a dog being forced to do something dangerous they didn’t want to do so discretion is advised.
The production company, Amblin Partners, released a statement saying they took great care in the safety of the animals and didn’t continue filming that day whenever the dog wasn’t willing to get in the water.
“While we continue to review the circumstances shown in the edited footage, Amblin is confident that great care and concern was shown for the German Shepherd Hercules, as well as for all of the other dogs featured throughout the production of the film,” the company said. “There were several days of rehearsal of the water scenes to ensure Hercules was comfortable with all of the stunts. On the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot.”
The video does show the “rapids” as a pool so things looked as safe as possible but it’s not as if the dog knew about that. For all he knew, he was getting thrown in to dangerous waters to a certain death and there’s no way in hell he was getting into that. And I don’t blame him.
There is a shot in the trailer of a german shepherd, as a police dog, jumping into rapid waters to save someone. So, apparently they got their shot.
https://youtu.be/3NStKlpLkrc?t=1m25s
Many groups including PETA have called for a boycott of the film, claiming animal abuse. The American Humane Association suspended the rep who was on set that day. And some of the main people involved with the movie have distanced themselves from the shoot.
Director Lasse Hallstrom distanced himself from the shoot, claiming he wasn’t there.
I am very disturbed by the video released today from the set of my film A dog's purpose.
— lasse hallstrom (@HallstromLasse) January 19, 2017
I did not witness these actions.
We were all committed to providing a loving and safe environment for all the animals in the film.— lasse hallstrom (@HallstromLasse) January 19, 2017
I have been promised that a thorough investigation into this situation is underway and that any wrongdoing will be reported and punished.
— lasse hallstrom (@HallstromLasse) January 19, 2017
Not being there for the shot is plausible because there’s usually a “B” director to get the basic shots while the director is getting the more critical shots. At the same time, it is Hallstrom’s set and if he is any sort of a competent director, he has read through that script dozens of times before shooting a frame of this movie. He knew that sequence was in there and that it was a dangerous situation. That didn’t set off red flags to at least make it as safe as possible for the dog? Seems like something is missing.
The voice of the dog in the movie, Josh Gad, released a statement on Facebook claiming he wasn’t on set and was unaware. Which makes sense given Gad is doing a voice so all he work for this movie is in a sound studio. He was probably aware of a scene where a dog is supposed to save someone in a “dangerous” situation in the script but it’s a bit of a stretch for Gad to know if something cruel was happening.
The production company and those on set can say whatever they want but the general public is not loving this and I don’t blame them. The video looked terrible and the dog looked scared to death. What was supposed to be a family friendly movie is now viewed with a different pair of eyes. Either people won’t see the movie at all, knowing how it was filmed or will see the movie differently and not enjoy it. The entire movie just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
[Uproxx/Video: TMZ]
