Local dog to appear in upcoming movie
Looks are everything when it comes to the movie business. And that even applies to the casting of local dog, Didjah, a five-year-old Australian Stumpy Tail cattle dog in the movie, “Thin Ice.”By: By Jordan Willi, Hudson Star-Observer
- Didjah performs a trick
- Kristin Elmquist stands next to her dog Didjah
- Didjah in a scene from "Thin Ice"
Looks are everything when it comes to the movie business.
And that even applies to the casting of local dog, Didjah, a five-year-old Australian Stumpy Tail cattle dog in the movie, “Thin Ice.”
“He was cast to look like an aggressive, farm dog. Some of the people on set were afraid of him because of the way he looked,” said Kristin Elmquist, Didjah’s owner and trainer. “We hooked up with an animal talent agent and had his pictures taken. A little while later a print company was looking for a dog to be in a Purina advertisement in London. Then a movie professional came looking for a dog and we were called and asked to audition.”
In the movie, originally titled “The Convincer,” Didjah plays the loyal pet of Alan Arkin’s character, Gorvy Hauer, who possesses a rare violin worth tons of money. When a wily salesman comes searching for the instrument, it sets off a series of horrible consequences. The whole film was shot in and around the Bloomington, Minn., area.
This was the first time Elmquist, who normally prepares dogs for competitions, had ever trained a dog for a role in a movie.
Throughout the shooting of the movie, Didjah and Elmquist were onsite for about nine days worth of filming, sometimes up to 18 hours a day, from February to March in 2010.
“The behaviors were easy to teach him, like how to hold onto the violin by the neck, to play dead, etc.,” Elmquist said. “The hard part was keeping him focused through the long pauses and delays before and after a shot. People can understand the need for the pauses but dogs can’t get it.”
The best thing about Elmquist’s whole film experience was getting to see the things she taught Didjah and his stunt double, Gibson, another one of Elmquist’s dogs, in action.
“My favorite part was testing the skills I taught the dogs. I had two weeks’ notice of what things they needed them to do and learn,” Elmquist said. “I trained both dogs for the exact same behaviors. The big question was ‘Can they do it when the pressure is on?’ and they were able to. The dogs did really well.”
During the shooting of the film, Didjah was losing his eye-sight in both eyes. The things he could do while going blind amazed Elmquist, she said. Didjah continued to impress his owner and trainer when he was cast in another movie last summer and was able to perform every task asked of him even though he could no longer see.
“He is retired from movies now. It got hard for him to do the stuff they wanted him to do,” Elmquist said. “He may do more print ads, but he is done with movies.”
Elmquist began training dogs over 30 years ago. She has been running her dog training school, For the Love of Dogs, at 1027 Tanney Lane, Hudson for six years. Elmquist trains and competes with dogs as well as training others how to compete with their pets. For more information, go to www.loveofdogs.net or call (715) 377-1324.
The agent Didjah worked with to get the Purina gig and the role in the movie was Barbara O’Briens of Animal Connections.
“Thin Ice” will be out in theaters nationwide this fall.
RSS Feeds