Brow Beat

Premiere of A Dog’s Purpose Canceled Amid Concerns About Animal Abuse

A leaked video has sparked concerns about the treatment of the movie’s canine stars.

Universal Pictures

The Saturday premiere of A Dog’s Purpose has been shut down, Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment announced in a statement. The film—directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat)—has been the subject of intense scrutiny over the past few days, ever since a disturbing video of a German Shepherd being dragged into choppy waters on set before being submerged underneath leaked online via TMZ and went viral. On Twitter, Hallström, who also directed the movies Hachi: A Dog‘s Tale and My Life as a Dog, wrote that he was “very disturbed” by the video and was not present when it was shot; Josh Gad, who recorded the dog’s voice but was never on set, said he was “shaken and sad,” and both said they had reached out to the film’s studio for an explanation. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has called for a boycott, and the film’s scheduled press junket has been canceled as well.

“Because Amblin’s review into the edited video released yesterday is still ongoing, distributor Universal Pictures has decided it is in the best interest of A Dog’s Purpose to cancel this weekend’s premiere and press junket,” the joint statement read. “Amblin and Universal do not want anything to overshadow this film that celebrates the relationship between animals and humans.”

Based on W. Bruce Cameron’s novel of the same name, A Dog’s Purpose focuses on the life of a dog (voiced by Josh Gad) from birth and until death and through the various reincarnated lives he leads through different breeds. The film’s marketing thus far has verged on sappy in its appeal to dog lovers—the very market that’s most unlikely to forgive the kind of recklessness and abuse revealed in the leaked video. A Dog’s Purpose is still scheduled for a Jan. 27 theatrical release, but the outrage directed at the film doesn’t appear to be dying down anytime soon.

Update, 5:30pm: W. Bruce Cameron, author of the book on which the film is based, put out a statement in response to the controversy, per the Hollywood Reporter:

First I want to thank everyone—and there have been literally thousands of you—who have written to express support. Your words and thoughts mean the world to us.

I found the video we’ve all seen to be shocking because when I was on set, the ethic of everyone was the safety and comfort of the dogs.

If the people who shot and edited the video thought something was wrong, why did they wait fifteen months to do anything about it, instead of immediately going to the authorities?

I have since viewed footage taken of the day in question, when I wasn’t there, and it paints an entirely different picture.

The written commentary accompanying the edited video mischaracterizes what happened. The dog was not terrified and not thrown in the water—I’ve seen footage of Hercules earlier that day joyfully jumping in the pool. When he was asked to perform the stunt from the other side of the pool, which was not how he had been doing it all day, he balked. The mistake was trying to dip the dog in the water to show him it was okay—the water wasn’t his issue, it was the location that was the issue, and the dog happily did the stunt when he was allowed to return to his original spot.

I also didn’t like it when Hercules’s head briefly went under water, but there was a scuba diver and a trainer in the pool to protect him. He loves the water, wasn’t in danger, and wasn’t upset.

On a movie where the mantra was the safety and comfort of the dogs, mistakes were made, and everything needs to be done to make sure those errors are not repeated. But the reason American Humane certifies that no animals were harmed during the making of the film is that no animals were harmed during the making of the film.

I celebrate animal rescue and am proud of the values that show up in A Dog’s Purpose