Rescue Dogs Take the Limelight →
There were all the trappings one expects from a movie premier: mingling among chicly-dressed actors, filmmakers and guests, red carpet photos and craft services. The presence of rescue dogs wandering between premier-goers’ legs was not quite as standard, but Rescue Dogs: The Movie is in a class of its own.
The film had its world premier at the new Laemmle Monica Film Center on Saturday, March 26th, in partnership with Hounds and Heroes, a nonprofit that connects wounded veterans to rescue dogs while advancing awareness of cruelty towards animals. Twenty animal rescue charities have partnered with the film to host adoption events for its opening weekend. Part of the box office earnings at each theater will benefit its associated charity.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to use entertainment to bring knowledge of how awesome rescue animals are,” says lead actress and producer Courtney Daniels, who owned eight rescue animals at the time of production. This is the third film from her production company, Busted Buggy Entertainment.
A talking-dog family film that features actual rescue animals, it follows the shenanigans of Tracy and his dog Charger (played by Daniels’ own rescue dog Baron) as they try to keep a greedy businessman from building a golf course over their beach restaurant.
Testimonies from the filmmakers show that a love for rescue animals is at the center of the film. “Any stress that comes while working on a film vanishes pretty quickly when the animals are on set,” saidactor Paul Haapaneimi. “My pet dwarf hamster, Hambone, was the Daniel Day Lewis of pocket pets - he never broke character,” added writer/actor Jordan Rawlins.
Daniels herself said that “even though [Baron] wasn’t professionally film trained, [he] really took to it quickly and might have even pushed 'diva' status!”
It was indeed clear at the Laemmle, with everyone stopping to shake his hand and scratch his back, that Baron was the star of the show.