The Oscars don’t have everything covered. Unfortunately there is no award for Best Animal in an Acting Role. Perhaps if there were, Dunston from DUNSTON CHECKS IN could be happily swinging around right now, an Oscar proudly clasped in one of his furry orange feet. Unless he’s dead, that is, in which case – rest in peace little fella.
If such an award did exist, a probable nomination would be Oreo, the raccoon who is assisting in the creation of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY’s trigger-happy procyonid Rocket Raccoon, a CGI character voiced by AMERICAN HUSTLE’s Bradley Cooper. In an interview with UK magazine Small Furry Pets, GUARDIANS’ director James Gunn talked about Rocket and our Oscar-hopeful Oreo (which you can see the cute and cuddliness right here!):
“We needed a raccoon to study how he looked and his behavior, so that our on-screen raccoon, which is generated through CGI will be realistic. Our Rocket is based on a combination of our voice actor, Bradley Cooper, our on-set actor, my brother Sean Gunn, the movements and behavior and look of Oreo, as well as my own animation… Bradley is one of those actors that can do drama and comedy equally well. He can do character work as well as being a leading man. These are important qualities in the role of Rocket – which is a lot more dramatic than you might think.”
Could animals have a future in the acting business? Could a gibbon be made up to look like a human youth and eliminate the need for child actors? Well no, obviously, although that is a future I would give an arm and a kidney to see. Many directors find working with children and animals a challenge, though Gunn enjoys working with both:
“We have a child in our film, Wyatt Oleff, who is one of the most naturally talented actors in the film – and this is a movie with Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro. I’ve never had a problem with kids. Animals on the other hand – I love them more than anything- but they are, in general, terrible actors. They usually do what they want.”
Terrible actors? Try telling that to Dunston and his sweat-tarnished trophy. He worked hard for that.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY stars Cooper alongside Chris Pratt as the human Star Lord, Zoe Saldana as deadly assassin-alien Gamora, Dave Bautista as warrior Drax the Destroyer and Vin Diesel as Groot – a big tree. It releases in cinemas on 1st August 2014.
Source: ComicBookMovie
