Lisa Lange said that her dog’s purpose was to sleep during the rainy days and keep playing with toys. She clearly said that it is not her dog’s purpose to be a prop in a Hollywood film so that the producers can make some money out of it.
The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Senior Vice President Lange, was among the thousands of demonstrators who gathered outside Hollywood’s Arclight theater on Friday and also asked people to boycott the film, named, “A Dog’s Purpose.” On its opening night, the film is already in the middle of an animal abuse controversy.
The behind-the-scenes footage was published by TMZ last week. It showed a dog resisting before it was submerged in water during an on-set stunt. Lange said that she was quite horrified and she wonders that if that can happen on a set where people care about animals, it shows how deeply embedded such problems are, in the movie industry.
The clip was soon dismissed by the filmmakers and claimed that it was edited to look like the dog was in more danger compared to the reality. However, Amblin Entertainment, the production company, released a statement saying that it will continue to review the footage of the incident.
During an effort to avoid any further public relations nightmare, Universal Pictures, who is distributing the movie, canceled the red carpet premiere of the film along with the promotional press junket. There were protesters holding up signs which read that a dog’s purpose is to be loved.
They marched in silence to the theater entrance and then back to the sidewalk and drivers who were stuck in rush-hour traffic honked while prompting cheers. Shortly after that, the protesters began chanting that should be no excuse for animal abuse and that dogs should never be props.
Danny Prater was among them, and said that his purpose is not be in the damn movie. A little distance away, a PETA staffer held up an iPad which played the video on loop and a sign above said, “This happened on the set of “A Dog’s Purpose”’. A 54-year old Santa Monica resident named Cynthia Whitfield paused to watch the video as her eyes welled up in tears. She said that she had no idea about this she was clearly appalled.
She said that after seeing the advertisements, she had planned to watch the film but after viewing the footage, she decided to changed her mind. Whitfield said that she wouldn’t spend her money on that. According to her, whoever was in the film’s marketing department, clearly forgot to mention certain things. Lange called for Hollywood filmmakers on Monday to make use of computer-generated imagery to replicate animals in the movies.
According to Gavin Polone, the producer, if the movie had created all its dogs digitally, it would have quadrupled the budget of the film. Lange said, in that case, the movie shouldn’t have been made at all. She said that if he couldn’t afford to make a humane movie then there’s no need to make it at all.
Meanwhile, PETA promises more than two dozen protests in cities nationwide for the Friday opening of ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ during a follow-up for its call for a boycott of the movie. It was first announced on 18th January in the conjunction with the release of a leaked video from the set which shows a German Shepherd balking while performing a stunt in churning water.