Video:Tom Dey Interview - Marmaduke
with Rebecca Murray'Marmaduke' director Tom Dey joined two of his voice cast (Owen Wilson, George Lopez), a couple of the film's young stars, and Marmaduke himself (aka George) for a special beach party where surfing was encouraged and dogs were as welcome as humans.
Transcript:Tom Dey Interview - Marmaduke
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the Beach Party and Special Screening of 20th Century Fox's Marmaduke.
Tom Dey – Director of Marmaduke
Are you just basically a masochist?Tom Dey: "Awww, yes. Well, listen, I made sure that they surrounded me with the best people, with the best trainers and animals and actors, whatever I could get my hands on."
But they're so unpredictable. How do you manage a set with that?
Tom Dey: "You just have to break it down into little pieces. In a way it's like doing a big action movie. You have to really kind of make it all little pieces, and a lot of the big wide shots where you see 40, 50, 60 dogs in one shot, that one shot could take a whole day to film because you have to do so many passes. Yeah, a lot of dogs can't be together so it's just a lot of planning - and you have to be a little crazy."
Did you also have to be flexible because the dogs don't want to do what you want them to do?
Tom Dey: "Sure, and be open to kind of...we really wanted to capture the personalities of the real dogs, so we wanted to be open to the things that they might do that might be unexpected."
So you really think that Afghan Hounds are really stupid?
Tom Dey: "I wanted to make the lead pedigree girl an Afghan Hound, the dog that Fergie voices, but the trainer came to me and said, 'Tom, here's a list of dogs listed by intelligence.' And he had 79 breeds of dogs and number 79 was Afghan Hound, and he said, 'I can't do this.' So I said, 'Okay, okay, we'll pass to Collie.'"
How did you manage him on the set? Was it you or all the trainers?
Tom Dey: "No, it was all the trainers. Yeah. I just sat back and enjoyed watching the performances."
And how about reuniting with Owen Wilson?
Tom Dey: "It was fantastic. It was great. It was like working with an old friend again. It was really terrific. And he brings so much to it. He's so smart, so funny."
Tasha Zemsky – Trainer of 'Marmaduke' (aka George)
You said he's 160 pounds. Is that typical?Tasha Zemsky: "It varies. Some are 160, 200, 150, it all kind of varies on the size. They all kind of vary a little bit, size-wise."
How easy is it to figure out whether this is the right dog to train for a movie?
Tasha Zemsky: "Yeah. I mean we had to work with him a little bit and see where his head was at, and he actually was training up really nicely, and he ended up being the star of the movie. We had a few others; his brother as well is in it too, but he's the main face dog in this."
How did you train him to tear apart things, or is it the other dogs that do that much better?
Tasha Zemsky: "Spirit, his brother, was more of the high energy action stuff. He actually did the surfing though. He actually got out there in the ocean and stood on the board and rode a wave in. So they both balance each other out really well. But he was the main talking star in it."
You have to know when they are done for the day, so how do you figure that out?
Tasha Zemsky: "You just kind of read the dogs because we're with them all day, all night long, so we have a relationship. We kind of read them and they kind of let us know if they need a break. And which is nice is that we have his brother so when he needs break, the other one gets to work so we can keep going."
Who actually does he live with? Is he yours?
Tasha Zemsky: "Birds & Animals Unlimited is the company we work with, so he's technically owned by the company but he doesn't know. He lives with us. He doesn't know. He lives with me and another girl as well because if I go out and about, then she takes him. So he has a very social life."
What was the most difficult thing for you to train him to do?
Tasha Zemsky: "You know what? It's all difficult. It really is. Sometimes just looking at the camera, and they just kind of just zone out and you've got to bring them back. So even stuff that looks easy, can be the most difficult."
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