The role of the frightening feline is one of the most important in the story- and it seems toughest to portray, as well.
The showbiz can be tough for actors, especially if they have fur and four legs. But, that wasn’t the case for the five fabulous felines that got to be pampered as bona fide Hollywood stars on the set of the upcoming Pet Sematary movie.
Melissa Millett, an Ontario-based animal trainer revealed to Prince George Citizen that a total of five felines were cast to play one of the most prominent roles in the adaptation of the Stephen King’s creepy novel- Winston Churchill, aka Church for short. In case you haven’t seen the original movie from 1989 or read this horror book before, here’s a spoiler-free hint of what the talented kitties had to portray: Church is a family pet whose life had a surprising and scary turn. That’s all I’m willing to unveil: if you’re keen getting scared out of your mind, make sure to watch the movie next spring.
In the first movie adaptation, Church was played by a British Shorthair. Some 30 years later, the honor of frightening movie theater audiences went to five tabby rescues, who, judging by the movie trailer, have done a marvelous job of being terrifying. So much so, it seems, that one of the feline actors “dropped out” in the middle of filming, because he got spooked on set. I mean, if Stephen King himself said that Pet Sematary is his scariest book, can you blame a feline for feeling the same? Regardless, all of the kitties enjoyed a royal treatment while filming in Montreal. Each of them had their very own trailer and had a specially built catio nearby, so they could lounge around safely. And all that pampering isn’t even the best part!
All of the cats that were cast to play Church found their furever homes with the crew. Two kitties were taken in by movie’s animal coordinator, two were adopted by Millet’s friends and the fifth cat, named Tonic, went home with Millet herself. Seems that being scary pays off!
