OK, I am going to make a confession here: John and I have never watched Marley & Me. I know it’s probably the biggest dog movie of all time (earning $240 million at the box office), and I know it features super cute dogs. But I also know the ending…so we skipped that movie (and the book).
But when we heard about Marley & Me: The Puppy Years, we had to check it out. This movie, like the name suggests, looks at Marley the puppy. Filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, this movie features young Marley but with a twist: this Marley has a voice. The result is a movie that’s fun for the whole family and won’t leave you running for the tissue box.
After watching the screener for this new movie (which will be released on DVD starting August 16 at Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Walmart.com), I had the chance to interview Michael Damian, director of Marley & Me: The Puppy Years. He also wrote the screenplay (with his wife, Janeen Damian) and sang several of the songs on the movie soundtrack. (And if he looks familiar to you, it very well might be from his 18-year run as “Danny Romalotti” on “The Young and the Restless.”)
I talked to Michael via phone this past week; he was in Vancouver once again, this time doing some location scouting for his upcoming Flicka 3 movie. The long-time dog lover had his rescue dog, Bella (photo, above), with him in Vancouver.
Can you tell us about working with the puppies on the set?
It was a lot of fun writing it and directing it. We had 24 puppies playing different characters. There were three Marleys and Marley has a friend Moose and another friend Fuschia, and there were three puppies playing each of those characters. We had a German Min Pin team called the Woof Gang, we had Australian shepherds, and more going through this great agility competition in the movie. All in all, we probably had 50 or 60 dogs or puppies, mostly puppies, in the film.
It was extremely wild and fun and challenging and never a dull moment. When I was directing them, I’d look over at the script supervisor and say “but Marley didn’t say this the right way”…and the script supervisor would say “Marley didn’t say anything!” …but in my mind I heard him say it because I knew the words that he would be saying! Everyone would say “I didn’t hear anything” and I’d say, “but you will later!”
How will viewers find this movie different from “Marley & Me” in terms of tone?
The first movie had a lot of voice narration from John Grogan and this one is interesting because Marley is the voice. He talks about his family, his grandfather, and the humans he encounters. You’ll hear him tell his perspective.
This movie is [intended] to make you laugh and to have a great time and enjoy it with the whole family. I know people say the first Marley and Me was amazing but the ending really wrecked them and it was hard to watch to the end. I tell them you’ll enjoy this movie all the way to the end; it’s not a sad ending, that I can promise you.
Is there one special memory that stands out to you about working with the puppies?
The puppies are trained to do certain things and little tricks and fun things but sometimes they’ll surprise you. They’re supposed to be sitting there and suddenly one will pounce on the other one then they’ll chase after the other one. They’ll be tumbling and racing after each other and it looks like it was rehearsed. We shot it and used it, too. Just roll camera…there’s something fun that’s going to happen when you just roll camera and go.
The funny thing is that Marley was supposed to run and jump in the pool. He would run up to it but then would stop and wouldn’t jump in; he’d run around and around the pool. The moment I yelled “cut,” of course, he jumped in!
He liked it when he’d jump in the pool and everyone would make happy sounds and cheer him. We learned just to have fun with them and let the puppies have a great time. We got great performances by just getting the camera there and letting it roll.
Can you tell us about the on-set trainers?
We had several trainers on set at a time, and they were fantastic. They were loving and gentle and several of them adopted puppies from the set. We had our dog Bella with us and one of the trainers worked with her and taught her some agility. It was really fun having our dog with us for the whole shoot as well.
With the shelter playing a role in the competition in the movie, we wondered if one hope or goal of yours was to increase awareness of adoption with the film?
It’s so important, and we got Bella because a family took her back after two months. We were so fortunate. It’s so important to adopt. There are great organizations like Save-a-Life or in LA, The Amanda Foundation. They’re everywhere. It’s really wonderful. Just go in on a Saturday when places like PETCO are having an event and you’re going to fall in love.
My wife said she wanted to go to PETCO and I asked what was going on there. She said Save-a-Life was going to be there on that Saturday and we went in and we left that day with Bella.
I can’t imagine us not having Bella. We are so fortunate. Don’t be afraid to go to one of those organizations and events; you can look in the paper or go online. They’re really good because they wanted to know certain things we were going to do and made a follow up call to make sure we took her in for her checkup. There was fantastic care that went into the whole adoption process.
We are such dog fans that we drive up here from LA; we don’t want to put Bella on an airplane! Bella brings so much joy to everyone at the production office and everyone here at the hotel. They’re crazy about her.
Photo courtesy Riviera Films and Michael Damian
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