David Delgado//The Daily Cougar
“No animals were harmed in the making of this film” might be just as fictional as the film it’s referring to.
On April 7, 2011, Gina Johnson sent an email to one of her colleagues, confiding that somebody had nearly lost their life at her workplace, having almost drowned on the set of a major Hollywood smash. She asked her colleague to remain quiet about the incident and seemed to possess a glaring lack of concern with the near-death experience. To some, it seemed like she almost didn’t care at all.
Johnson is a representative of the American Humane Association. She was sent to the set of Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” to monitor the treatment of the set’s animals and verify the validity behind the AHA’s trademark disclaimer.
You might think she’s the real-world incarnation of August from “Water for Elephants,” but rest assured — this woman didn’t whip the elephant, so to speak, but she sure as hell didn’t stop anyone else from doing it.
She detailed how, in one particularly perilous shot, the Bengal tiger nearly drowned on the set when it got lost trying to swim to the outside edge of the tank. King, the tiger employed to supplement the movie’s CGI version, had to be dragged out of the tank by his trainer, who was able to pull him in with a catch rope.
“I think this goes without saying, but don’t mention it to anyone, especially the office,” Johnson implored in the email, which was obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. “I have downplayed the (expletive) out of it.”
“Life of Pi” then went on to win four Oscars and gross nearly $609 million internationally. It was given the “no animals were harmed” status.
It then came out that Johnson was sleeping with a production executive of “Life of Pi.”
And that’s just the first chink in the armor of Hollywood’s humanitarianism. The Hollywood Reporter also released details of the production behind Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
It seems that the film, whether in terms of dollars grossed or lives lost, did everything in excess. Yahoo reported that 27 animals died on the set of the film. Most of the animals that died were sheep and goats, succumbing to dehydration, exhaustion and drowning.
The animals were all reported to have died in the midst of the flick’s filming hiatus, when the animals were left on an unmonitored farm in New Zealand.
And yet, the film still managed to nab a favorable disclaimer, acknowledging that the American Humane Association “monitored all of the significant animal action. No animals were harmed during such action,” according to Yahoo.
Because the deaths occurred during inactive periods of filming, the Association was able to carefully sidestep any condemnation.
It’d be nice if this news could end right now — maybe not nice, so to say, but a whole lot better than having a slew of material to address on the subject.
There are the four horses that died on the set of the HBO show “Luck” and the dogs reported to have been punched in the diaphragm repeatedly on the set of Disney’s “Eight Below.” Then there’s the abundance of dead squid and fish that washed up on the beaches right next to the bay where Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” was filmed.
Their deaths were most likely due to the film’s excessive use of underwater pyrotechnics. The Hollywood Reporter’s expose revealed that Disney took no precautions in protecting the nearby marine life.
A Kmart commercial caused the death of a 5-foot-long shark after it had been placed in a small inflatable pool. A chipmunk was squashed and killed on the set of Paramount’s “Failure to Launch.” The sheer volume of citations is downright unbelievable, and they were all exposed by The Hollywood Reporter’s investigation.
What’s even more unbelievable is that all of these productions had monitors from the AHA on set.
In an even more disgusting turn of events, on the set of Fox’s “Flicka,” the AHA also failed to properly report — or do anything about — the deaths of two horses. Bob Ferber, founder of the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Animal Protection Unit, reported that the AHA dismissed animal control officers who were dispatched to the set of the film.
“They told animal control to (expletive) themselves,” he said. “This is worse than doing nothing. This is like a cop not just ignoring a crime but helping cover it up.”
These are the people who supposedly got into the business to actively promote the ethical and humane treatment of animals. It isn’t as if they witnessed cruelty, tried their best to intervene and then covered up the incident out of fear of losing their jobs. That still would’ve been inexcusable, but at least it might’ve made some twisted logical sense.
It’s almost as if those in the AHA actively detest animals, so much so that they weaseled their way into the only line of work that can promote the death and suffering of such animals. It’s a truly bizarre thing to have been revealed, and one that I pray will result in lasting ramifications for those involved in these heinous crimes.
Any semblance of emotional investment in the safety of Hollywood’s animals — who didn’t sign up for a life of acting — seems to be missing. If indie movies weren’t appealing before, they should be looking pretty good now.
Senior staff columnist Cara Smith is a communications junior and may be reached at [email protected]
