Liew Seng Tat writes:

Here are some animal thoughts on a lonely Saturday night.

Looking out the window now I see the moon is almost full and the cool breeze from the air con makes me feel oh so sentimental. When I'm sentimental and shit, I think of my pets. You, your snow white fur and the view from your behind... I miss you so much Dolly.

I've used a lot of animals in my films. I like animals a lot, dogs the most (if you count Dolly out). Fish, I'm not a big fan coz I don't like the fishy taste in my mouth. In my first short film, BREAD SKIN WITH STRAWBERRY JAM (MVA Gold Award Winner!) my animal of choice was my dog, Jackie. Me and my sister adopted her from SPCA when she was only one or two months old. She was named after Jackie Chan, the Chinese actor, action choreographer, film director, producer, martial artist, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer and singer (I'm not kidding you!). Jackie my dog is a smart dog and she is not barky at all. The only time she barks is when she sees old people walking by. I don't know why but I figured she can't stand the way old people walk. Slow, weak and staggering. Man, even i myself cannot stand it. Now that both my grandparents are dead, she doesn't bark anymore. Anyway, Jackie's performance in BREAD SKIN was perfect, especially the ending scene. Basically I told her this, "Enter the screen from the right and sniff the bag for a few seconds. Then run across the road. Before you enter the opened gate, turn back and look at the camera". She did all that amazingly.

Jackie and her amazing acting skill in Bread Skin With Strawberry Jam.

Wilson, my toy poodle was in my 2nd short film, NOT COOL (MVA Gold Award Winner too!). Yes, a toy poodle, I know. I'm sorry. Anything cute, white and furry will remind me of Dolly. Anyway, we named him after Tom Hanks's companion in Cast Away, Wilson the volleyball. Wilson is a noisy dog. Unlike Jackie, Wilson barks at anything under the sun. He barks at people, chairs, trees, grasses, birds, floors, cars and even his own feet. He got stolen last year and we never see him again after that. The day he got lost, I went around the neighbourhood looking for him screaming 'Wilsooooooooonnnn!!!!!!', just like what Tom Hanks did in the film.

Wilson, my toy poodle in NOT COOL.

Actually, the main animal-star in Not Cool is not Wilson. It was a flowerhorn fish I bought from my father's friend for rm200. The fish was featured in the beginning and the ending of the film. Look what happened to the rm200 fish here:

NOT COOL. The beginning and the ending of the film.

There were also animals and an insect in my 3rd short film, FLOWER. Two pigeons and a beetle. We bought the two pigeons from a pet shop in Petaling Street. One pigeon sneaked out from the cage and flew away when we were not paying attention. The other one couldn't do so because we had its wings clipped and its feet tied to one of my crew's leg. To walk with a pigeon tied to your leg is quite a challenge. The beetle flew away too during the shoot and for some of the shots, I had to replace it with a 3D computer generated beetle.

The pigeon and the beetle in FLOWER.

Not to mention in FLOWER IN THE POCKET, there's this puppy called Happy. Happy was still a baby during the production. He was so chubby and from a distance he really looks like a piglet, just like what the kid says in the film. When we were shooting him, he slept when we wanted him to be active and he was active when we wanted him to sleep. Although I was tempted to, but I didn't abuse or harm him. To prevent that from happening, one of the crew members adopted him and everyone lives happily ever after.
For my next film, which is still in script development stage, there will be a camel. Anyone knows where and how to get a camel in Malaysia please do let me know. In return, we'll let you take home some camel meat as a token.

The readers who read this, also read:
Woo Ming Jin: Animals I've Used in My Films