The Interview (2014)

Throughout the film, the main character has a puppy, who is seen performing such mild action as sitting/lying, being held or petted. In the scenes where we see the puppy in the actor’s arms, trainers placed the puppy in his arms prior to filming the scene. The puppy and the actor were acquainted with each other on and off camera.

In the scene where we see Joseph Gordon Levitt playing with puppies in a small play pen, the actor played with the puppies prior to shooting the scene, so they were acclimated with each other. The play pen was checked for hazards prior to filming

In the scene where the actor is crawling through the grass and encounters a tiger, trainers held the cat with an invisible cable. Crew was prepped and on alert for deer, dogs, or anything else that might provoke the tiger. On action, the trainer behind the camera cued the tiger to walk from point A to point B. The trainer verbally held the tiger on his mark and rewarded him with food after filming the scene.

In this same scene when we see the tiger chase the actor, trainers placed the tiger on a mark, and lured him to run towards the camera using a piece of meat on a suspended line. During this sequence the actor was nowhere near the tiger. They were shot separately. Subsequently we see the tiger tower over the actor. In this sequence the trainer laid on the ground, called the tiger to walk over and look down on him.

When we see the object fall from the sky and kill the tiger, the object was fake and created via CGI, as was the tiger’s death.

In the scene where the guard walks into the compound with a barking dog on a leash, the dog’s handler was wearing a costume and trainers off camera cued the dog to bark.

In the scene where Kim Jung-Un gives the actor a box, the actor opens the top and pulls out a puppy, then hugs Kim with the puppy in his arms, prior to filming the scene trainers placed the puppy in a box and the actors were prepped on how to hold the puppy.

In the next scene where the actor runs down the corridor holding the puppy, while soldiers are shooting at him, again, the actor was prepped on how to hold the dog and the trainer was just off-camera making sure everything went okay. The sound of the gunshots was implemented in post-production.

When the actor runs outside in the snow holding the puppy, between takes, the puppy was placed in a blanket to keep him warm. After shooting the scene the puppy was taken to a heated trailer.

In the scene where the actors are riding inside of a tank and the girl is holding the puppy, the scenes in the tank were shot on a controlled stage, not a real tank. The puppy not used in any of the scenes involving shouting or yelling; production used a fake puppy in those scenes instead. When we see bullets ricochet inside the tank, all shots and explosions were added in post. For the entire production no explosions, gunfire or squibs were used when the puppy was working.

In the scene where the actor runs through the mine shaft holding the puppy, when the actors reach end point of action, the trainer took the puppy from actors.

In the scene where the actors escape the mainland on a boat and one of the actors is holding the puppy, when they boarded the boat, the actor was holding a fake puppy. In the boat itself, the puppy was harnessed, attacked to a web belt that was also attached to the actor. The puppy was also wrapped in a blanket with a hot water bottle to keep him warm.