Mortdecai (2015)

In the scene where we see men on horseback ride through a Spanish castle, all horseback riders were stunt riders or experienced actors who were skilled at riding, mounting and dismounting. The galloping scenes were well choreographed, and actors used caution while on and near animals.

In the scene where the girl rides the horse up to the actor, gets off the horse and hands it to a servant who leads it away, the man playing the servant was actually a horse handler. The actress was prepped on riding the horse from point A to point B.

In the scene where the actor tries to sneak past a dog who’s growling, then he gives him food and runs past, trainers placed the dog on a stay mark, and were just off camera cuing him to growl. The actor was prepped with the dog on handing him food and walking past him.

In the scene where the dog tackles the man servant to the ground while Johnny Depp climbs up the ladder, they shot this scene in several pieces. First the trainer called the dog to run from point A to point B. Then they shot a scene where the dog jumped on a stunt man. The dog was lured by food and the stuntman was never in danger. In order for the dog to jump on the stuntman, production built a small ramp and he would essentially jump into the stuntman’s arms. The dog was rewarded with food.

Due to production’s limited resources, American Humane Association did not monitor some of the dog, bird and horse action.