By: Jack Clayton
Lantern Staff
Hollywood never seems to be short of drama, no matter the context. There are the jokes that people think will be found harmless, such as the changing of the Hollywood sign from a few weeks ago. But then, there are times when one moment is taken completely out of context and turned into something far worse. The most recent occurrence of this moment took place on the set of the movie, A Dog’s Purpose.
On Wednesday, Jan. 18, the famous news website TMZ released a video taken back in 2015 from the set of A Dog’s Purpose. In the video, it shows a German Shepard being forced into a giant pool of water that is made to look like a white-water rapid. It is obvious in the video that the dog does not want to go in, even though the handler continues to try and force it into the water.
As soon as TMZ released the footage, people took both offense and action. Everyone shared what they thought of the video, including Dennis Quaid, who is in the movie. Eventually, the animal rights corporation PETA denounced the movie. They even made a call for everyone to boycott the movie indefinitely.
It didn’t stop there however, as Bill Warren, owner of the local theatre chain Warren Theatres, announced on Thursday, Jan. 19 that he would not be playing the movie at all.
“It was abuse,” Warren told the Wichita Eagle. “There’s no excuse for that kind of behavior. And I’m not going to reward that kind of behavior by playing their lousy movie.”
Finally, to make matters even worse, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Studios, the two production companies in charge of the movie, announced that they would cancel the premiere of the movie. It would still be released nationwide on Friday, Jan. 27 to theaters that were willing to show the movie, unlike Warren Theatres. PETA has given their approval of the motion of cancelling the premiere.
After all of this was announced however, Gavin Polone, producer of A Dog’s Purpose, released a statement explaining that he didn’t deny the fact that what was seen in the footage was legitimate. However, according to Polone, there’s much more to the story.
“In footage of the rehearsal for the scene, you can see the dog not only unafraid of the water but desperate to jump in,” Polone said. “In fact, he had to be held back by the trainer from going in too soon.”
According to Polone, whenever they had rehearsed the stunt beforehand, they would do the stunt on the right side of the water. However, when the infamous footage was taken, they had decided to do the stunt on the left side. The dog, being used to doing the stunt on the right side, wasn’t entirely sure what to do and got spooked.
“TMZ’s edited version gives the impression that the dog was thrown in and eventually drowned, since the two parts seem to be connected,” Polone said. “You never see him pulled out and ok. This is highly misleading.”
Polone has also confirmed that the dog is doing just fine, but still feels the actions taken were inappropriate.
The main point to take from what has happened is that TMZ didn’t originally tell the full story, which hindered the movie from doing as well as it planned. The weekend it was released, the movie only made a little over $18 million in the United States, barely making back the $22 million budget used to make the movie.
That also raises the suspicion as to why the footage, which was from a year and a half ago, finally surfaced only weeks before the movie was set to release.
“It’s strange on how they kept the footage for two years and then want to release it right before the movie heads into theaters,” Freshman Craig Franklin Jr. said.
Some students seemed satisfied with the call made to not show the movie in the long run.
“I’m completely against animal cruelty, and I know banning the film was probably the safest bet in this tough situation,” Sophomore Kevin Burke said. “I think it was for the best, but I would’ve liked to have seen it.”
A Dog’s Purpose is still showing in theaters in cities like Derby and Cowley, so moviegoers can still watch the movie. Some critics have said that the movie is still enjoyable, even with all the controversy surrounding it. It just shows that you can’t truly judge a book by its cover and make your own judgement about anything. That’s especially the case when the information you use is from a tabloid website like TMZ. By not telling the full story, and only what the people wanted to hear, they completely ruined a whole movie for moviegoers. The lesson is to know where you’re getting your information from before making your own decision.
Note: At press release time, it was announced that the footage was officially fake. Following, the Warren announced that A Dog’s Purpose would be available to watch in theaters starting Friday, Feb. 10. As of now, it is still unclear as to why the footage was made, especially since it was released shortly before the movie was set to premiere. Regardless, if viewers were disappointed in the fact that you couldn’t originally see it, rejoice in the fact that it is now available for your viewing pleasure.