The Creation Background of Fire Dog

The story of Fire Dog was inspired by the screenwriter Claire-Dee Lim. She was entrusted by two college classmates-screenwriter and producer Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. In order to create a script featuring dogs, Wobo and Coal Mine require that movies should have both funny elements and family elements. Warbe said: "We have made movies about dogs before, and we are surprised by the irony described in many Hollywood movies. The dog in the entertainment film is completely different from the image widely loved by the audience on the screen. " Cowley added: "These actor dogs have too many rules to follow. They are more like trained workers than our pet dogs in daily life. No one can touch them or even look at them except the coach. "

Wobbe invited his friend and colleague Todd Holland to direct the film. Holland said, "I was deeply inspired by the love and respect the script showed for dogs after I filmed Firedog. I also benefited a lot from my dog Rosebud's story about life and love. "

In the film, Rex does not appear as a supporting role of the protagonist, but has a strong personality, which is as important as any role in the film. "It's a challenge because Rex can't speak, but he is undoubtedly an important role," Warbe said. He has the terrible qualities and big-name demeanor of all superstars. "In addition to children, this film is also aimed at the market of adult audiences. Cowley said: "The film has unveiled the mystery of Hollywood star dogs, and it is also very interesting for adults to watch. Claire said, "Fire Dog is an action comedy of Xian Yi, which is suitable for all ages and full of love. "

When choosing the leading role Rex, the director and producer took great pains. They consulted relevant experts, ruled out several dogs that were not suitable for co-production, and then "interviewed" many dogs and their trainers. Finally, with the help of Ursula Brauner, coach of Boone Animal School in Hollywood, four Irish terriers were chosen to play Rex.

Brauner said: "Although I have rich work experience, it is a unique experience to choose actors for Rex. In order to achieve Rex's' performance' effect, the crew of Firedog has exhausted all the tricks you can think of. We have four coaches on the set, and four dogs play Rex or his body double. This is their first performance. Because Rex can't talk, he must convey his inner feelings through body language and a little computer stunts. "

Although Irish terriers belong to the category of fierce dogs, four dogs have become the darling of the whole crew. Brownell said: "To make such a film, we need to establish a bond of trust and contact with dogs, so that they can get used to all the craziness in shooting, because they have to face different environments on the set, such as fire, alarm, lights and cameras. The trust we have established with dogs makes them understand that they can ignore everything else as long as they are with us. " ……

Watching dog movies in the Year of the Pig

Unexpectedly, just after the Year of the Dog, there was a wave of hot dog movies in Hollywood, such as Fire Dog, which was assigned by the film company to the screenwriter Claire-Dee Lim, so she had to find two former classmates from the University of California, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary to form a "dog movie". For Webber and Coralli, Claire-Di Lee's idea can not only make them relax and make a comedy movie full of family fun, but also make a proper study to see to what extent the dog, as the protagonist of the movie, can combine reality and fantasy.

Mike Weber also specially hired his colleague and friend Todd Holland to direct the film. He said, "The reason why I agreed to direct this film is entirely out of my own love for dogs, and I respect what they have done for mankind. I have a dog myself, named Rosebud. From this, I not only learned how to love, but also learned how to live better. " Mike Weber and Michael Colleary try their best to make Rex, the protagonist here, not only serve the human story, but also just solve the trouble or pretend to be cute. Weber said: "We hope Rex can have strong mood swings, distinctive personality, any superstar's bad habits and opera-style behavior like human beings. It is really difficult to do this, because it is just a dumb dog after all. "

Although this is a family comedy with teenagers as the main target, the three writers still hope to incorporate some adult views into it. Michael Colleary said, "I hope that not only children will laugh at this movie, but adults will also have fun from it. The film alludes to some hidden rules in Hollywood today. It seems that as long as there are stars involved, people will lose their normal judgment-this is the so-called' star effect'. " Claire Di Lee added: "This is a movie for everyone to watch. On the premise of action comedy, tenderness is an essential adjustment. "

About dogs

In order to find the right dog to play Rex, the filmmakers spent more than half the casting time. Because the dogs they need are not only agile, but also small enough, so that they can easily hide in a drum-shaped bucket ... and not too small, otherwise they will not have the strength to fight the bad guys in the film. It can't be a star dog, like Shi Lei (Shi Lei: Rescue the Great Escape! ") or Lacey (Lacey), because it wants to balance realism and fantasy in the story. Michael Colleary said: "The simple understanding is that you can imagine Rex as the smartest and most dynamic creature in the world, and then make it look like a dog. "

Before they began to choose dogs, they read a lot of books about dog habits, which effectively helped them eliminate those dogs that were not suitable for this story. Then, they got to know a lot of dogs and their owners together, and finally chose four Irish terriers with almost the same posture and coat color to perform Rex together, and completed all the shooting work with the help of dog trainer Ursula Brauner-Braune came from the best Boone Animal School in Hollywood: "Although I helped shoot many movies related to dogs, the days of working with Rex were very unique. It can be said that this film gives full play to the characteristics of a dog. On the set, there are four dogs, Strede, Frodo, Li Bei and Luohan, who share all kinds of stunts and body double's work. We chose them specially for this film. This is their first time on the big screen, so many things have to be taught from scratch. " Because Rex is a "normal" dog, he can't talk. He must express himself through behavior or body language. Of course, the support of computer digital technology is also essential.

Lively, brave and friendly, the four Irish terriers quickly won the love of all the actors and staff in the film. According to ursula Brauner, dogs are the most loyal friends of human beings: "The most important thing to work with dogs is to trust them from the heart. Of course, you have to control them so that they don't do anything stupid. During filming, dogs may encounter many unusual situations, including bullets, bells, bright lights and cameras. At this time, they will habitually rely on familiar people around them. If they can feel your trust and have good emotional communication with you, they will ignore some unexpected situations around them and will not be so easily frightened. "

In this case, it is much easier to find a little actor who plays Shane. At that time, the filming of Little Manhattan had just come to an end. It is suggested that director Todd Holland go to see josh hutcherson's performance. Unexpectedly, he only watched it for five minutes, and Holland intuitively felt: "He is Shane." Later, Holland spent the whole day filming R.V. with hutcheson and his mother Michelle, a family comedy co-produced by hutcheson and robin williams ... Holland said: "After detailed discussion, I finally confirmed that hutcheson is the best candidate for Sean. But what I didn't expect was that during the filming, his performance even exceeded my expectations. I have worked with many famous child stars, and Hutchison is the best one. He is smart and diligent, and he is like a shining little sun on the set. "

Although josh hutcherson likes small animals very much, and he has a pet dog himself, working with four dogs at the same time still needs an adaptation process. In this regard, Ursula brownell was very satisfied with hutcheson's performance: "In the film, hutcheson is under the greatest performance pressure because he has the most contact with dogs. To adapt to the habits of four dogs with completely different personalities at the same time, he needs to show more patience and tolerance than adults. " Hutcheson himself said, "It's really fun to film with dogs, but it's also very hard. It's like in a set of scenes, I was crying, and then Rex came in and sat next to me ... I heard the coach keep saying' sit, sit, sit' outside the camera, and in the process, I had to make up something to play freely to cope with this embarrassing scene.