Four-legged actors can experience serial rejection just as their two-legged counterparts do. So it was for Butch, a 5-year-old German Shepherd mix who’s part of a stable of performing animals represented by New Jersey’s prestigious Animal Actors Inc. The agency has supplied four-legged talent for such major movies as The Devil Wears Prada, The Squid and the Whale, and In Her Shoes.
Butch was one of a litter of mixed-breed pups abandoned at the age of 8 weeks at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Branchburg, N.J. (the shelter, incidentally, happens to be one of Animal Actors’ favorite places for scouting talent - the equivalent of Schwab’s, the fabled coffee shop where young Lana Turner was discovered). Baby Butch was adopted by David Owens, a professional trainer who works frequently with Animal Actors Inc. and favors the shepherd-type breeds and mixes.
As he grew, Butch developed into a drop-dead-gorgeous dog with obvious star quality, his glossy brown-black coat revealing him to be part Malinois, a distinguished Belgian breed. He bears more than a passing resemblance to Rin Tin Tin, famous canine star of 1920s and ‘30s-era cinema, who preceded Lassie as Hollywood’s biggest marquee name on four legs. (Memo to best-selling author Susan Orlean, who’s at work on Rinty’s biography: Butch would be ideal as the lead in the book’s big-screen adaptation.)
Butch has everything one could ask for in a canine movie star: good looks, an impressive lupine grin, and enormous range. "He can play anything from purebreds to mutts," says Animal Actors founder Steve McAuliff, who’s been grooming critters for their closeups since 1975, and knows canine talent when he spots it. Yet despite his long list of attributes, Butch gamely went on casting call after casting call, and never once got hired for a film; the only job he landed was a short, but memorable, TV spot for Comedy Central.
Then came his big break: Butch was selected to star in The Brave One, the action-suspense movie that director Neil Jordan (Michael Collins, The Crying Game) shot in New York City.
"Butch is not a bit player," McAuliff explains. "His character is central to the story." The dog’s co-star is none other than Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster. On set, the two bonded instantly; at their first meeting, Foster knelt down to greet her canine co-star with open arms. Butch even has a stunt double. "Butch does everything in high gear, while his double does everything in low gear," McAuliff says. Fittingly, the double’s name is … Sloth.
