Are Animals Getting Better at Acting?

I’m surprised the article didn’t mention the herd of rabbits in The Favorite. They were amazing and their wrangler deserves high praise for the performance they got out of them. Especially the bunny who went under the shoe.

The charismatic Masuka, in "A Girl Walks Home Alone" has already been crowned 'the Marlon Brando of cats'. He steals every scene in which he appears (especially the final long take) and reportedly directed a couple of those scenes, which comes as no surprise to cat owners.

Just because an animal's performance is old. Doesn't make him or her a hack. I think the title is short changing (and kind of rude), many of the animal performers who came before this particular cat. Love, Flipper

My tabby, Fred, looks an awful lot like the cat illustrated in this article. He too will stick his tongue out at me on occasion. I didn't see Fred for a few days . . . I wonder if he got out, got to New York, and was the model for this depiction. Fred's pretty darn clever and persuasive.

I am still trying to figure out why the bear in The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio didn't get an Oscar.

Mr. Ed a hack? No way! This beautiful palomino was AMAZING in its ability to interact with its human co-star, exuding a finely tuned sense of humor and precociousness with terrific comedic timing. Take a look at some of these old shows on Youtube and you'll be mightily entertained. And agreed, Orangey the cat was terrific. Also Tonto the cat (in Harry and Tonto) and Cyrus, in the NY Lottery's latest Christmas scratch-off commercial.

In the biography, “Rin-Tin-Tin,” Susan Orleans tells the story that, in the very first Oscars voting in the 1920s, the most votes by the Members of the Academy went to the canine actor/celebrity, Rin-Tin-Tin. The Academy of Motion Pictures swiftly changed the rules of who, as a member of a species, could be nominated for an Oscar. Old “Rinty” was unfairly cheated out of his well-deserved honor of being named the first Best Actor in a Motion Picture. And we all were cheated of almost a century of what could have been surprise Oscars for some truly great professional performances. Maybe now the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences will finally institute an Oscar for “Best Non-Human Actor in A Motion Picture.” Unconditionally yours, Lassie

There was a big red cat named Orangey who had a 15 year career. He appeared in movies and later on TV. He is probably best remembered as "Cat" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and the cat in the "Incredible Shrinking Man". Fifteen years of acting for one cat, which means he was doing it for most of his life. Pretty impressive, I would say. He even has his own page on IMDB.

There's a whole episode of High Maintenance that is carried by a dog's wonderfully expressive acting.

Our little Mia is a Coton de Tulear … she is so sweet and smart and nice and pretty! She’s our little movie star! Everyone loves her videos!

Remember As Good As It Gets? Remember that adorable dog actor Vernel? He deserved an award just for not stepping on the lines!

WC Fields said “Never act with animals or children. They are scene stealing”.

Just curious: how old was Towne the cat? And of what did he die?

I've been practically in tears from reading some of the other stories in the NYT, i.e., Trump's Tax Cut, and the "Rising Threat to Wildlife: Electrocution". Thank goodness for Ms. Hess's article and this animated picture of a cat sticking it's tongue out. Actually, the entire article made me laugh out loud on more than a few occasions. Any time a cat or a dog is in a scene in a film or TV series, they will ALWAYS still the show for they truly know what they are doing and how to work a room and steal a scene. I have only one disagreement and it's regarding Toto. Back in the day, he was on top of his game and hardly a hack. It would be unfair to compare and judge performances by Sir Laurence Olivier and Denzel Washington. Both men are giants in their field - both are equally brilliant for different reasons. I thought Toto stole many a scene in "Wizard of Oz", especially when Judy Garland sang "Over the Rainbow." His performances deserve much more credit than merely be labeled a hack. Thank you for making me laugh and feel better than I did an hour ago.

Maybe Towne would have lived a longer life if his owners/trainers had made better dietary choices. And hot dogs? Wow! That animal probably isn't long for this world either.

The CGI Harry, in Death in Paradise, is particularly charismatic in my opinion. Always good to see him.

Funny how animals that are not abused in training do a better job acting natural in front of the camera. Go figure. Training using operating conditioning methods requires constant eyes-on tracking of the animal. That involves a lot of eye contact, as the animal learns to scan the handler’s face for cues. We end up rewarding eye contact, and even more often we reward (cute, charming) expressive eye contact. Pet owners do this without being aware of it (dog looks at you quizzically and you smile back, dog is rewarded and will repeat behavior for more positive reinforcement). Dogs will mimic human facial expressions, too. These subtleties in expression — eyes, ears, mouth — are the main difference I notice among dog actors in newer productions. Olivia the dog looks happy being held and stroked in that clip. She is not staring hard at her trainer, off camera. She is blinking and panting naturally, calmly. The commisures of her mouth are relaxed. That can be seen as either natural acting or a sign of good, kind training and handling. Compare Olivia to the stressed, shut-down, abused dog in that “Dogville” clip. Look at that dog’s crinkled, worried brow, sideways ears, contracted mouth. It is a miserable, abused, frightened animal. It makes me cry.

I thought the sea horse in Aquaman did a good job.

What I want to know is, are people getting better at acting?

I thought the sea horse in Aquaman did a good job.

My favorites are Crab in Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona and, of course, Eddie in Frasier...

A surefire way to get me to like a TV ad is to put a dog or cat in it. I usually fast-forward ads on recordings but when I see Gus the collie drifting away ("Let's steal away!") down the river in a canoe, I always watch. One day, I might even remember the name of the car they're advertising instead of the dog that they're not !

Although Ms. White is correct when she says, “A lot of film theory would argue that no matter how good the fake animal gets, it won’t produce the same emotional resonance in viewers as a real animal,” soon even a sophisticated eye won't be able to tell the difference between a CGI animal and a real one. That may lead to an increase in graphic violence toward animals, as it does already in the human realm, and the desensitization toward cruelty to them.

“Towne had a very expressive face. . . there is a moment in the film where he gazes toward McCarthy “sort of sympathetically, and also judgmentally, and you feel all of that. . . Towne’s efforts did not go unnoticed. “This cat is out-acting me,” McCarthy thought as they worked. “The Marlon Brando of cats." I would give anything to see those outtakes with Melissa McCarthy and Towne. Not sure which would make a better "straight man" - the cat or the human. It would probably be a draw in the end. I love this article. Thank you for making me laugh today.

Nonhuman animals have always been persuasive performers. Rumor has it that Rin Tin Tin was voted Best Actor at the first Academy Awards, but that his award was re-directed to a human performer. The answer to the question "Are Animals Getting Better at Acting?" is that humans are getting better at enabling animal performers to prepare for their roles. The comparison to the change in film performance after the introduction of The Method is an apt one.

Animals have been scene stealers for years, and now we can look forward to enhanced performances because of clever trainers who have figured out the best inducements for their furry actors. Human actors are in for quite a challenge. (What a nice piece to read compared to the usual news. Thank you, NY Times.)