- Title: USA: A VISIT TO THE SET OF '101 DALMATIANS'
- Date: 27th October 1996
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK (OCTOBER 27 1996 ) BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA (NOVEMBER 8 1996 ) (RTV-LA) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) JEFF DANIELS SAYS THERE ARE A LOT OF DOGS THAT ARE MORE TALENTED THAN SOME ACTORS HE'S WORKED WITH (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) GARY GERO SAYS THEY HAD TO USE MANY DIFFERENT PUPPIES TO PLAY THE MAIN CHARACTERS BECAUSE THEY KEPT GROWING UP TOO FAST DURING PRODU
- Embargoed: 11th November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA9ULZHYJNKAQT21AMWPHQTTC8Z
- Story Text: Walt Disney kicks off the holiday season early with the release of its live action version of the animated classic "101 Dalmations" starring Glenn Close in the lead role of the villainess Cruella DeVil.
The film tells the story of a young London couple played by Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson who meet and fall in love through their identical dalmation dogs "Pongo" and "Perdy." The family grows even more when the dogs produce a huge litter of adorable dalmation puppies.
But evil comes knocking on the door in the form of Cruella DeVil, the head of a successful London fashion house who wants the pups (and their spotted coats) for a new line of clothing. At first she offers to pay for the dogs, but when she's turned down, she turns to more devious methods of getting what she wants.
Soon, two bungling burglars are employed to steal the animals and Pongo, Perdy, and a resourceful group of animal allies must set out to find the missing puppies.
To bring this classic tale from animation into live-action, Disney brought in the talents of writer and producer John Hughes, who was responsible for films like "Home Alone," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and "The Breakfast Club," and director Stephen Herek, who recently directed Richard Dreyfuss in "Mr. Holland's Opus." The filmmakers' biggest challenge was casting the 99 puppies, several adult dogs, and many other animals to cast. For help, they brought in head animal trainer and coordinator Gary Gero, who sent legions of puppy trainers to the far corners of England to train litters belonging to several private breeders. No one had ever before attempted to train eight-week-old puppies for a film, and certainly not over 200 of them at once.
But there were some tasks that real live puppies couldn't do, and for these, the filmmakers worked with Jim Henson's Creature Shop and IndustrialLight and Magic to recreate a computer image that was just like a real puppy.
As no two Dalmations look the same, and the filmmakers sometimes needed two or more puppies to play the same character, make-up artists and dog breeders were employed to add or take away spots and markings where necessary. This was done using a mixture of harmless vegetable dyes. But by the time the pups returned to their new homes, there was no trace of their temporary markings.
To publicize their film, Walt Disney has considered a series of publicity stunts. Two have fallen through and caused some controversy in the process. First, the studio wanted to paint spots all over the busy 101 freeway in Los Angeles, obviously because of its numerical classification. When approval for this was denied, the studio asked for permission to paint black spots all over the famous Hollywood sign. This, too was denied when local homeowners protested.
Finally, the studio had to settle for decorating the front yard of an extravagant Beverly Hills mansion with hundreds of wooden and cardboard puppies and a life-size cut-out of Cruella DeVil in her vintage automobile. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None