WHEN THE ACTORS ARE REAL BEASTS...

They are not chased by annoying journalists, they are not followed by admirers, they are not asked for autographs. And they never suffer from “star fever”. But there are real movie stars among them, and very many of our favorite films couldn’t come out without them. Our well known actors such as Alexander Domogarov, Igor Livanov, Mikhail Efremov, Sergey Yursky, Oleg Menshikov, etc. have been their partners. But in spite of all their celebrity we still don’t know their real names. Nevertheless they are talented, charming and ingenuous - the four-legged actors of Moscow Film Studio “Mosfilm-KINOlogia”.

(in the photo: a shot from the serial "Together and Happy":

a movie-star - Berner Zennenhund Bayra;

a note on the dog reads: "I'm not eatable!")

Interview with the chief-director of "Mosfilm-KINOlogia”  Victor Zujkov with  some photos from a film festival "Gold Fang" 

Victor Zujkov:

- There are more than three hundred animals in our catalogue – says Victor. – Not long ago we told everybody that we have everything from an elephant to a cockroach, but after the film “Taiga. A Course of Survival”  we extended the range of our abilities, and began to say that we have everything from an elephant to a  tick!

- Can it really be true, that a tick acted in a movie?

- When in an episode after a plane crash a heroine dressed in her fancy jeans with big holes finds herself in taiga. Suddenly she finds a tick on her leg. We were told that it’s hardly possible to find a tick in the forest at that time of the year and advised to draw a tick on her skin. But my dog Metel (Snowstorm)  running around with her son Seryj (Grey) brought us an alive tick on her coat just in time! We called the tick Arnold for his muscled body and put it on the actress’ bare leg.  The reaction was adequate and we heard a very natural loud scream.

- What animals are the most difficult to deal with?

- Cats. In their everyday life they are constantly trying to teach the humans. If the dog is born to serve his owner and is ready to die for him, the cat always wants to do everything her own way. The only exception is my Kuzya who has already more than 23 films in his “arsenal”.  He was awarded a title “Stunt Cat». It seems to me that he is doing all this out of gratitude for my picking him up in the street when he was a small kitten. Though to say the truth he was not starving: he was several times thrown off from the butcher’s, but persistently returned back to the place where he thought his home should be! Kuzya is able to do three (five maximum) great jumps to the ventilator window in succession. By that time he is already full up and is not willing to do anything at all! A hungry cat is a real beast!  For his dainties he is even ready to jump through the burning window, but when he is full up he is a real lazy bone!

- And who of  "the tail having actors” is the most obedient?

This is undoubtedly Bayra – Berner Sennenhund. Bayra acted in the serial “Together and Happy”. Unfortunately she has passed away already. It happened last spring; she was 11 years old then. I wish I have found her earlier! I came across her at “Sokolniki” dog training ground when she was already eight. Her owner was a dog-trainer and was busy training other dogs, and Bayra was lying aside. But when one of the dogs couldn’t execute the trainer’s command properly, Bayra’s owner called up to her and she demonstrated how to do this exercise the right way, just like a good pupil at the blackboard. At first Bayra was shot in one episode, but then she got her full-fledged role in the film “The Two Under the Fir Tree to Say Nothing of The Dog”.

- It was easy for Bayra to pass her casting, isn’t it?

- Casting for the serial “Together and Happy” was very difficult. Just imagine - a man is sitting and holding in his pocket some false money (dogs don’t like to take to their mouths genuine money). A dog must come up to him, put her forelegs on the sofa and say “Wow!”. The man gives her a 100 ruble bill. She takes it by her teeth and runs away. And all this in unfamiliar surroundings. Bayra managed to do everything perfectly well and after that during two years she played a part of a male dog Baron. She enjoyed a fantastic popularity. For one training day she could learn to come up to a sofa, take a remote control, drop it on the floor, push it with her paw and switch on TV. Then she made herself comfortable on the sofa watching TV.  

- Do you think animals enjoy acting in the movies?

- Actually, not all of them. For example, if we take a cow with her dairymaid from their farm and bring them to the shooting stage, it’s hardly likely that the cow will enjoy it! As for my dog Metel, she acted in 25 films, my cat Kuzya acted in 23 films. Of course, everybody on the shooting stage wants to treat four legged actors with something tasty. I myself would gladly give them even the red caviar, but they don’t like it.  After the shooting is over the animals eat as much as they want.

- Do you usually have substitute animals for your films?

- It’s absolutely necessary. Every dog can get ill, injure a paw, etc. We don’t even know for sure if they have headaches. And what if the dog has fallen in love, for example? By the way, the Dogue de Bordeaux - another candidate for a part in “Police District” lost his chance. On the day before shooting he swallowed a ball and his owner had to give him some castor oil.

(Interview is taken from “Moskovsky Komsomolets”)