On the Set: We Bought A Zoo

Look But Don’t Touch
The main movie set essentially required building a small zoo on a ranch in Thousand Oaks, Calif., complete with realistic animal exhibits. Animals appearing in the production included one or more of the following: bear, binturong, otter, camel, tiger, porcupine, snake, monkey, fox, ostrich, fish, dog, lion, zebu, peacock, owl, swan, flamingo, baboon, camel, eagle, parrot, and many others.

In a scene where the zoo opens and hundreds of people rush in, the job of keeping them from putting their hands and fingers inside the animal enclosures proved challenging at times. Senior Certified Animal Safety Representative^™ Netta Bank continuously had to remind the children and adults to keep their hands out of the enclosures, which were more accessible than at a real zoo. Fortunately, her efforts paid off — and no humans were harmed.

Go With the Flow
Although most of the animals are veterans of the entertainment industry, as you can imagine, they don’t always stay on script. But that didn’t derail the film’s director, Cameron Crowe. “Don’t get uptight about it,” he would tell the actors when an animal began improvising. “Just go with it!”

“He was such a delight working with animals,” said Jonne Rodarte, Certified Animal Safety Representative and Humane Officer. “And being patient paid off. He got a lot of great stuff. It gave the actors the ability to interact with the animals in a different way.”

So How Do You Do a Scene With a Wild Animal?
Very carefully… Whenever animals appeared in a scene with an actor, there was always a trainer right there, just off camera, and safety precautions were always in place. Typically, a safety meeting is held before a scene is shot, no food is allowed on the set, and no running is allowed. Especially with large predators, the smell o f food and fast or unexpected movements or sounds can startle the animal or stim ulate its predator/prey instincts.

Before working with a particular animal, the actors would be instructed what to do, and what not to do, when interacting with it, to ensure the safety of the animal — and the actor.

The Buzz: Matt Damon Was a Sweetie
Sweet like honey. In one scene, Damon is dressed in beekeeper gear, working with swarms of honey bees — more than 30,000 bees — that were brought in by a beekeeper. “Matt was a trouper,” Bank said. “He didn’t have any issues doing the scene.”

And no bees were harmed either. American Humane Association’s work protecting animals in film and TV includes insects as well as fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. While shooting the scene, cardboard was set under the actor to collect bees that fell off him. Soft brushes were used to sweep them up. Afterward, the beekeeper used queen bees to attract the others back to their containers for transport home.

Damon also had some one-on-one scenes with somewhat larger animals — a tiger and a bear. “Matt was very in tune with the animals and the trainers,” Rodarte said. “He would take cues from the bear’s actions and was very flexible and perceptive when working with it.”

Our View of ‘Zoo’
“This is one of the best films I’ve ever worked on,” said Bank, who has been safeguarding animals in film and television productions for 21 years. “The crew, the cast, everyone from the director on down was conscientious and cared about the animals.”

Visit the official We Bought A Zoo website.