INTERVIEW: ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ author responds to controversial video in days before movie’s release
W. Bruce Cameron is the writer of the beloved A Dog’s Purpose series, which introduced readers to the character of Bailey, a lovable canine who searches for meaning in this complicated world. The successful story has been on The New York Times Best Sellers list for weeks and weeks and weeks, and now Bailey’s story is coming to the silver screen.
But the move from the written page to the cineplex has been fraught with controversy. A video has emerged online that apparently shows a dog from the set of A Dog’s Purpose distressed at jumping into a rushing pool of water. The backlash over the clip continues in the lead up to the movie’s release. The film’s premiere, according to EW.com, was canceled, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling for a boycott.
Hollywood Soapbox talked with Cameron before the video leaked. The online publication reached out for further comment from the author on the controversy:
“First I want to thank everyone—and there have been literally thousands of you—who have written to express support. Your words and thoughts mean the world to us. I found the video we’ve all seen to be shocking because when I was on set, the ethic of everyone was the safety and comfort of the dogs.
“If the people who shot and edited the video thought something was wrong, why did they wait fifteen months to do anything about it, instead of immediately going to the authorities? I have since viewed footage taken of the day in question, when I wasn’t there, and it paints an entirely different picture.
“The written commentary accompanying the edited video mischaracterizes what happened. The dog was not terrified and not thrown in the water—I’ve seen footage of Hercules earlier that day joyfully jumping in the pool. When he was asked to perform the stunt from the other side of the pool, which was not how he had been doing it all day, he balked. The mistake was trying to dip the dog in the water to show him it was okay—the water wasn’t his issue, it was the location that was the issue, and the dog happily did the stunt when he was allowed to return to his original spot.
“I also didn’t like it when Hercules’s head briefly went under water, but there was a scuba diver and a trainer in the pool to protect him. He loves the water, wasn’t in danger, and wasn’t upset. On a movie where the mantra was the safety and comfort of the dogs, mistakes were made, and everything needs to be done to make sure those errors are not repeated. But the reason American Humane certifies that no animals were harmed during the making of the film is that no animals were harmed during the making of the film.
“I celebrate animal rescue and am proud of the values that show up in A Dog’s Purpose.”
In its own release, PETA states that the forthcoming film is no treat for dogs. The organization stated:
“Hollywood films usually have a splashy, star-studded premiere in the days before they open in theaters. The bigger the movie, the bigger the festivities tend to be. Then there’s A Dog’s Purpose: After devastating eyewitness footage was released by TMZ, which showed that a dog was forced into churning water on set despite his frantic attempts to resist, the immediate and widespread outrage was hard to ignore.”
FROM BOOK TO SCREEN
Cameron, whose other books include 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter and A Dog’s Journey, co-wrote the screenplay for the movie adaptation with his writing partner and wife, Cathryn Michon. The film, directed by The Cider House Rules and Chocolat’s Lasse Hallström, hits movie theaters Friday, Jan. 27. Comic actor Josh Gad voices the dog.
“I have all my life wanted to be in a position of seeing a novel that I have written get on The New York Times Best Seller list and then be turned into a motion picture, and finally I’ve realized that lifelong goal,” Cameron said in the earlier phone interview. “The fans of the book will not be disappointed because the tone, and the emotion and the themes are all exactly as they are in the novel.”
Cameron said when he sells a project to Hollywood, it’s always with the understanding that he will be attached as the writer. For A Dog’s Purpose the movie, he worked with Bichon, his collaborator on two indie films, Muffin Top and Cook Off! “She’s my wife, and she’s really good at it,” he said. “So I would be a fool not to bring her along for the ride, so we work really well together and wouldn’t sell a property into development if we weren’t attached to write it.”
Adapting the successful book into a movie script was a tough proposition. The original story is not a typical narrative, which is probably why readers have been so attracted to the material. For starters, the book is told from the perspective of a dog who never dies but is instead reincarnated and learns from the humans he befriends. Even though the cover of the book and its mainstream appeal might foreshadow a melodramatic tale of a pet and pet owner tackling the obstacles of life, A Dog’s Purpose is far more introspective. Bailey asks some serious questions about life, and Cameron needed to keep that same sense of pathos for the movie.
“It’s sort of like picking which one of your fingers you’re going to cut off,” he said of the adaptation process. “There is absolute pain in letting loose of some your prized scenes, some of the characters. You just don’t have room to pack it all in there like you would like, so that’s the toughest lesson to learn as a novelist adapting his own work, is that you just simply can’t have it all. The important thing to do is to find the most vital and meaningful parts of the book and make sure that’s what makes it up on the screen.”
Some of the “big ideas” that Cameron touches upon include love never dies, real friends will always come back, the spiritual quest for purpose and the existential search for why a person (or dog) is here in this world. “Those are big ideas packed into a book about a dog, and it can really affect people and move people if they’ll open their hearts to it,” Cameron said.
The sales for A Dog’s Purpose have been strong. When it first premiered several years ago, Bailey’s adventures found an audience almost instantly. As of this writing, A Dog’s Purpose is at the top of The New York Times Best Sellers list and in top rankings at Amazon.com.
“It has been phenomenal, and I’m so grateful for the response from everyone,” Cameron said. “It was considered by many to be sort of a dangerous concept, a story told from the viewpoint of a dog who reincarnates. It was sensed that maybe no one would want to read such a thing. It took everyone off guard when the thing jumped onto The New York Times Best Seller list and has been on and off ever since. I think we’re up to a total of 55 weeks now, so I was totally unprepared, thrilled, amazed, pleased, gratified.”
Cameron has been actively publishing ever since A Dog’s Purpose first entranced readers. In May, he will release A Dog’s Way Home, a story about a canine who is banned from her town because of breed-specific legislation. She is relocated hundreds of miles away but decides to find her way back home … through the Colorado Rockies. “It’s a wonderful adventure story, and it is told from the perspective of a dog,” Cameron said.
As he continues writing, the controversy surrounding the movie adaptation of A Dog’s Purpose continues to swirl.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Dog’s Purpose will be released in movie theaters Friday, Jan. 27.
