Detailed Animal Action Report
In the scene where the two actors sit in a movie theater and a pigeon lands on the actor’s head, they filmed this scene in an enclosed set that looks like a movie theater. Prior to filming, trainers brought the pigeons to the set in their holding crates. Then they placed “flight wings” on the two pigeons who were going to work in this scene. They used a gentle scotch-type tape, which the birds were acclimated to. They also introduced the pigeons to the two actors and went over the proper handling techniques with them. Just as they were about to film, the trainers stood off-camera at the birds’ starting mark. The other handler stood on the other side of the theater set to supervise their flight. On action, the two actors sat in the theater pretending to watch a movie. On cue, the handlers released the two pigeons, and they landed on the chairs next to the actors. On cut, the handlers collected the pigeons and returned them to their holding crates. For the next take, the handler placed the pigeon on the actor’s head. After they filmed this last take, they placed the birds back in their crates and gave them feed and water.
In the scene where we see several actors in a lab and the assistant picks up the cat and talks to the other actor while petting him and the police suddenly break in and start firing their weapons and we see the actress place the cat on the ground before running away, production used clapping sounds to create fake gunfire sound effects for the actors to react to. There were no loud sound effects while the cat was on set. Prior to filming, the cat’s trainer brought him to the lab set in a carrier. The trainer placed the cat into the arms of the actress who would be holding him in the scene. On action, the actress talked to the other actors while holding and petting the cat with a natural ease. When the police come in and raid the lab, the actress acted startled before placing the cat on the ground. Then they got a shot of the cat looking “scared” sitting under the table.
They accomplished this by placing the cat under a table then standing back. On action, they made loud sounds by clapping their hands thereby eliciting a response. Once they got both shots, they wrapped the cat and placed him back in his carrier.
In the scene where the actor walks into the dining room and exchanges a look with the cat who’s sitting on the table, before the cat runs off, prior to filming trainers brought the cat to the set in its carrier. The trainer took the cat out of its carrier and placed him on the dining room table. On action, the actor walked into the room, and the wrangler crinkled a piece of paper to get cat’s attention, which they caught on film. Then the trainer cued the cat to jump off the table and run into the other room. This was achieved without any issues.
In the scene where we see an actress sitting in her office and feeding the cat who’s sitting on the desk, prior to filming the trainers brought the cat to set and placed her on the actress’ lap. Once the animal was introduced to the actor and acclimated, the handler placed the cat on the desk then stood off-camera. On action, the actor fed the cat a sardine from the prop can and petted her while the animal was on the desk. After they called cut, the trainer placed the cat in its carrier and brought her to the holding area.
In the scene where we see the three actors sitting in the dining room and the cat walks off in the background, prior to filming, the trainers placed the cat on its mark on the floor. On action, the trainer cued the cat to walk towards him. They also placed cat food at its end mark to make sure he walked towards his mark. After getting the shot, trainers placed cat back in his carrier.
