Tom Cruise 'made sure not to land on a cat': Meet the woman who trains Ireland's animal actors
When Mary Owens puts out a Facebook appeal for a golden Labrador or a pug, chances are she’ll find an animal just right for the silver screen.
Mary, an animal trainer along with Rita Moloney at Fircroft Animal Actors, has been training animals for roles for almost 40 years, ever since her collie, Tansy, became the studio dog for RTE’s Youngline.
Based in Rathangan, Co Kildare, Fircroft Animal Actors has trained animals for poster campaigns, ads and TV shows including RTE’s Live at Three and The Late Late Show. Movie credits include Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, The Snapper, Far And Away, P.S. I Love You, Neil Jordan’s The Widow and, most recently, Wild Mountain Thyme. And their animal stars have graced major Irish TV shows from Fair City and Ballykissangel to Bachelor’s Walk, The Tudors and Game of Thrones.
Over the years, Mary and Rita have worked with dogs, cats, horses, cows, snakes, llamas, exotic birds and even a snail. “We searched the garden for the snail and pampered it with cabbage leaves. Its job was to climb up a window pane. The producer didn’t believe our snail would cooperate, so he brought his own, but it wasn’t needed – ours just flew up that window pane.”
Most usually, the company’s asked for dogs and quite often cats too. “We did a few days down in Lahinch recently for a movie that needed a golden retriever running along a beach and fetching a ball. It’s nice when we get something that simple. We do get asked for very complicated stuff,” says Mary, recalling the Vodafone ad with Piggy Sue, where four piglets were needed because you can’t tire out one animal by having them do every scene.
“Our vans are kitted out with rest areas for the animals. When we worked on The Honeymooners, which had a greyhound called Iggy, there were actually four Iggies and the crew christened our Winnebago the Iggybago.”
With the piglets, the first task was to train them to be handled – being a prey animal they fear being caught. “We taught them to be ok with having a collar and to being walked on leads – there were a lot of outdoor scenes and we had to have a way of controlling them. We use food as reward – custard creams were a great favourite with the Piggy Sues.”
Animals are trained in blocks of time – they can only absorb so much in a session – and often there’s a conversation with the director around matching up what the animal actually knows with what’s needed. “Sometimes a director’s looking for something that seems simple but in fact demands a lot, like a cat playing in the garden and running across to sit on a wall – a cat might do that naturally but won’t on demand.”
When 13 cats were needed for 1992 movie Far And Away – to sit on various wheelbarrows and baskets in a wide open square fronting onto a street in what’s now Temple Bar, where Tom Cruise was to do a fight scene – Mary recalls borrowing the cats from friends. “No way were we going to Dublin with 13 cats and not bringing 13 home.”
So while director Ron Howard wanted the cats to be loose, Fircroft Animal Actors taught them to be comfortable with a harness and being tethered. “The message came to place the cats on set and to have them loose,” says Mary, who describes the ensuing over-and-back exchange, with them insisting the cats be tethered and explaining they’d been trained for that, and Howard equally insistent they be loose.
“So Rita said if they’re going to be loose, we’re taking them home. Nobody’s ever said that to a director! He relented and asked could we have one loose. So we let Smithy be loose – my 12-year-old daughter’s cat – we felt confident about him. And it all went very well. The cats didn’t budge despite the big fight scene. Tom Cruise was brilliant – every time he landed he made sure not to land on a cat.”
Some animals are naturally more trainable. Colour’s important – “we’re rarely asked for black dogs/cats, it’s hard to capture their expression, particularly around the eyes” – and temperament’s vital. “A nervy animal won’t be happy on set. They need to be very steady, friendly, outgoing, relaxed around people.”
So if a cow’s needed – Fircroft has done quite a few Dairygold and Kerrygold ads – a show animal, used to being harnessed, is ideal. “We did one where a cow was brought across a lake in a boat – you see the guy carrying the cow. Using a hoist and lifting her just a little, we had to teach that cow she’d be alright if her feet left the ground. It took a while but soon she was happy to munch her bit of grain while being hoisted.”
Sonny, a Jack Russell, a former street dog Fircroft got from a rescue centre, was wild, a brilliant escape artist. He learned to love the camera. “I did a lot of training with him and he rose to it,” says Mary. “He did a lot of ads, including for one of the phone companies – he had to put his paw on a glass and his ear against it to listen to his owner chatting in the next room. Once that dog knew he was on set he’d show off.”
Whatever about Hollywood dogs, animal acting in Ireland’s a small world – pet-owners won’t get rich on it. “For use of the animal, you’re looking at €200 or €300. Most people do it because they love seeing their pet on screen and telling their friends,” says Mary, who after putting out a request on Facebook, visits potential animal actors, takes photos and makes recommendations to the agency – e.g. this dog’s good at sitting and staying, this one at fetching a ball. Ultimately the agency decides.
A dog spinning and barking in reaction to a storm on Ballykissangel, with Colin Farrell up a tree, was one of the first animal acting jobs Judith Owens Poole worked on. A dog trainer and daughter of Mary Owens, she recalls Colin being “a lovely guy to work with”.
Judith really enjoyed doing P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank, where her border collie, Brodie, had to be a ‘wild Irish dog’ barking and running around Swank and co-star Gerard Butler. When that film now airs, Judith gets quite emotional because unfortunately Brodie’s no longer around. “But it’s good to see him out there.”
Judith’s border terrier, Fern – who plays Amy Huberman’s dog, Canine Aidan, in Finding Joy – is getting a bit typecast. “She has quite a hairy face and every role she’s getting is a male one,” says Judith, adding that Fern also plays talking dog Mulligan in the AA adverts.
Four of Co Galway-based Irene Henson’s cats have had acting roles. Her Sphynx, Blue – “he doesn’t see himself as a cat, you can take him anywhere” – starred in dark fantasy Gretel & Hansel, directed by Oz Perkins. “Perkins loved Blue so much, he put him in more than was in the script,” says Irene, whose American Shorthair, Dexter, was in a UK Direct Line insurance ad.
“He was up a tree being rescued. After that he went to Dublin and did an ad for Vodafone – he had to look at an iPad with fish on it. It’s really quite satisfying when you see them on screen.”
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