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Subscribe to RSSUggie, the canine sensation in the new Hollywood film "The Artist," has skyrocketed to fame, and KNBC-TV's Gordon Tokumatsu caught up with the rising star.
Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who stole filmgoers’ hearts in “The Artist” as well as such other films as “Water for Elephants,” was up to his usual dog tricks in Studio 1A today: swiping the spotlight from human beings.
TODAY
Uggie dressed up for the announcement of the Academy Award nominations on TODAY this morning, but he didn't receive one.
Wearing a natty bow tie for the occasion of hearing the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards announced live on TODAY, the adorable pooch barked greetings to his “Artist” costars, hid his head in his paws, and generally eclipsed all the talented people on camera with his irresistible canine charisma. See for yourself:
The talents behind "The Artist," including actors Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, writer-director Michel Hazanavicius and producer Thomas Langmann, react to the news that their unusual silent movie received a Best Picture nomination.
But though “The Artist” garnered a whopping 10 nominations, including one for Best Picture, none of the nods was for Uggie, despite a “Consider Uggie” Facebook campaign. Which raises a metaphysical question: Do animals act?
DreamWorks Pictures
From Mr. Ed to Benji to Morris the Cat and Joey in 'War Horse', many animal stars have stolen our hearts.
Author Susan Orlean, for one, thinks they do. In “Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend,” her best-seller about the German shepherd who starred in dozens of films and arguably saved Hollywood in its early days, she argues that the dog wasn’t just doing tricks on camera; he was acting.
And the jury of international critics behind the Palm Dog Award (whose name is a play on the Palme d’Or or Golden Palm, the highest plaudit bestowed at the Cannes Film Festival) would probably agree; they’ve been honoring canine acting every year since 2001 and this year chose Uggie for the award (a handsome inscribed leather dog collar).
What do you think? Should the Academy have honored Uggie with an honorary Oscar – or perhaps even have launched a new Oscar category, Best Performance by an Animal?
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I absolutely feel that there should be an award catagory for animals in any movie, or TV, awards shows. Many, many people are affected by the acting by an animal in a movie. I agree with Susan Orlean that most of these animals are not just performing tricks. They are performing for their own pleasure and the pleasure of their owners, and we are incredibly fortunate to be able to share in that. I heard many people coming out of War Horse stating "that horse should get an Academy award!. Granted, there were several horses portraying Joey at different times, but I imagine that there was one horse that did most of the work...acting work! I am extremely disappointed that there is no animal category or "special category" for movies with an exceptional animal performance.
Anyone who doubts that animals act need to watch the old Clint Eastwood movies "Every Which Way But Loose" and "Any Which Way You Can." There is no doubt that the Orangutans in those movies (yes there was more than one "Clyde") are acting. Most animals have distinct personalities and those personalities come out in the films they work in. Doing tricks like falling over when someone pretends to shoot them is one thing, but the expressions on the face in the various situations are definitely acting. There is no reason not to have an award for them.
Seriously, do you think the animals will care, one way or the other? They just want to be loved and well cared for, which they are!
Animals are most definitely worthy of receiving celebrated awards of acheivement through the film industry! I've trained an enormous variety of animals exclusively for the film industry for over 35 years now; including the dog(s), 'Buddy', for the first two "Air-Bud" movies; 'Lucky', the dog, for the last three "Dr.Dolittle" films; and many, many others! The raccoon that I had trained way back on "Grizzly Adams" was once up for a 'Patsy Award', which was a once-upon-a-time, short-lived version of an 'animal oscar'. There definitely needs to be a catagory within 'the Oscars' that recognize animal actors and their counterpart human trainers/companions! An unbelievable amount of energy goes into acheiving success as an 'animal actor' (&, yes, some animals have 'it' just naturally, just like some people, while some animals just don't!). It can takes weeks, months, and years to hone an excellent actor...but only those who 'thrive' in the 'spotlight' ultimately go on to 'stardome'!...YES, THERE NEEDS TO BE RECOGNITION OF OUR FOUR-LEGGED, OR WINGED, ACTORS!!! It's sad that the 'STAR' of the blockbuster movie, "Warhorse", which has been nominated (rightfully so) in numerous catagories for the academy awards this year, isn't even subject for mention! I could go on and on 'cuz it's just so 'not right' for animals to still, to this day, be considered/catagorized as little more than a 'prop'!!! ('Trolls' not welcome to reply!)