Brad Pitt apparently decided against taking the immortal W.C. Fields’ advice: Never work with animals or children. In his new film “Heart of the Beast” his co-star is a dog.
As Fields admonished both are unpredictable and constantly steal scenes. In Pitt’s case it’s the latter.
The actor worked with four dogs to make the film. The fully grown German Shepherd playing Odin was named Uber. Three of his real life offspring—Seeka, Ryker, and Hondo— worked in the film as well.
In a new featurette, released today (Aug. 31), Pitt describes what it was like to work with Uber and what the “survial thriller” movie tried to convey about the bond between humans and canines.
“When I first picked up the script and read it, it just really, really moved me,” he says in the video. “That bond between human and dog, dog and human, is really something quite incredible.”
In the film, Pitt plays special forces military dog handler James Belmont, who is assigned a combat dog. After serving together, Pitt retires and takes the dog with him to Alaska.
His float plane crashes in the outback, stranding them deep in the Alaska wilderness, accordng to a film snyopsis.
“Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements and showcases the “unbreakable bond between a man and his best friend.”
“They are off now for their golden years, but they become stuck in the wilderness, and it’s their bond that keeps them fighting and moving forward.”
The script by Cameron Alexander was featured on the 2017 Black List of the year’s ‘most liked’ unproduced screenplays.”
David Ayer, who is best known for his own screenplay “Training Day,” and his directorial debut in “Harsh Times,” signed on to direct the film.
“James and Oden never give up on each other,” Ayer says. “They’d sacrifice themselves in a heartbeat for the other.”
The film is big, with sweeping panoramic scenes and schmalzy closeups between man and dog that captures the sentiment. As animal pictures go, it has all the elements… and yes, Odin steals many of the scenes.
It.s scheduled for domestic released by Paramount Pictures on Sept. 25.
Check out the new featurette below and a trailer from the film.
Keith Girard has four decades of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie’s and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN’s Washington Bureau and has written non-fiction books on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War and Donald Trump and two novels, “The Heidelberg Conundrum” and “The Curse of Northam Bay.”