Four-legged stars keep stampeding into multiplexes

By Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

The Colosseum at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace lived up to its Roman roots during the CinemaCon festival in March: In the lobby, two lions paced in a cage near a zebra, monkey, alligator and python. The cause of the menagerie? A promotional event for Sony Pictures' upcoming Kevin James comedy, The Zookeeper.

When studio executive Rory Bruer carried a bear cub onstage, "oohs" and "ahhs" from the 4,000 theater vendors turned to chuckles as the young animal promptly relieved himself all over Bruer's suit. "Whenever you are working with animals, you know they are probably going to steal the show," a good-natured Bruer said afterward. "But the cub couldn't have been more adorable."

Despite the "cute" factor, nature's beasts often are challenging in ways that go beyond dry-cleaning bills. Nevertheless, Hollywood continues to court them: New star vehicles include Water for Elephants and African Cats, opening today on Earth Day, and summer films like The Zookeeper, Jim Carrey's Mr. Popper's Penguins and Hangover Part II (starring a monkey).

"People are fascinated with these animals, and they want to see them," says Gary Johnson, owner and elephant trainer of Have Trunk Will Travel, an elephant rental company. "And mishaps happen when you're dealing with the real thing."

Johnson provided Water's scene-stealer in the form of Tai, the 9,200-pound female Asian elephant whose initial meeting with Robert Pattinson (she carried him around in her mouth) stole the heartthrob's heart and made him sign on for the film.

Christoph Waltz was less effusive about working with his physically daunting co-star. "I didn't work with an elephant, I worked next to an elephant," he says. "Considering she can step on your toes, it's a good idea to keep a certain distance."

While Pattinson spent the film's shoot hiding candy on his body for Tai to sniff out, Waltz kept it by the book for safety's sake. "I thought it was a good idea to do exactly what (the trainer) told me to do and refrain from any endeavors."

But trainer Johnson insists mishaps on the set were rare because the well-trained elephant is actually "very graceful."

"We've trained her so she's not bumping into the camera or the lights ... or the actors," he says. "Her footing is already very good in the first place, and she's naturally aware of her surroundings." In fact, the biggest uh-oh moment was a silly one: Reese Witherspoon found herself unfortunately positioned at Tai's rear end during a scene, catching an emission of noxious gases. "Tai eats 200 pounds of food a day," Johnson says with a shrug. "It happens."

It's not just the large animals making an impression. During the filming of Mr. Popper's Penguins, which features eight real black-footed penguins, Carrey got a crash course in flightless-bird etiquette, says trainer Larry Madrid. "They might not run up and attack, but they bite and peck," says Madrid. "Hey, they're supposed to be wild penguins."

The film made good use of its game star, giving Carrey a bucket of fish and then rolling the camera for full comedic effect. "Those scenes where Jim was feeding the penguins had me laughing. He was getting nipped pretty good," Madrid says. "He's not faking the pain."

Another tip: Don't hug penguins. "They're awfully cute, but they don't snuggle," Madrid warns. "Think about it: When you're a penguin in the wild and someone is picking you up, it usually means you're someone's dinner."

When filmmakers capture animals in their natural habitats, the melding of mammals can lead to even more harrowing results. While shooting Disneynature's African Cats, a documentary focusing on tigers and cheetahs that hits theaters today, director Keith Scholey says it was never his dangerous feline subjects who gave him trouble during the two-year experience. It was the elephants off-camera. One evening, one hungry bull wandered into the crew's camp and found a jeep in the way of a fruit tree.

"This old boy decided he wanted to get to the tree, and he just picked the jeep up and rolled it out of the way," Scholey says. "Our poor car looked very sad the next morning. It just shows the power of these animals."

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