Zooey Deschanel has to admit that acting with dogs isn’t easy despite her love of animals.
In the new romantic comedy Merv, Deschanel plays Ana, a woman who shares custody of her dog with her ex-boyfriend Russ, played by Daredevil star Charlie Cox. However, the titular dog is depressed because his owners are no longer together.
"The dogs are very serious," the New Girl star told People. "It's not like you're getting to snuggle them. In fact, you're not allowed to when they're working. Yeah, it's not what you think."
While making the movie had its fun aspects, it was also challenging because her scene partner was a dog.
"I will say that there are times when you're like, okay, the scene has to work, but then they have to get the dog to do something, and the trainer is going like, 'Go, go,' and you're trying to do the scene at the same time," she explained. "It was another level of challenge, because the dog works very differently from a human."
"It's a dog, and it's not like you can be like, 'Hello, dog. Move over here, then move over here,'" she added.
Merv was mainly portrayed by a rescue terrier mix named Gus. But finding Gus was a challenge in its own, per director Jessica Swale.
"It was a real education, not only in what dogs can do, but in how to tell their story on camera — and how only certain dogs would work," the director said.
"A dachshund, for example, is super cute, but really impractical to shoot emotional scenes with. If you want both human and dog in one shot, if your dog is only inches off the ground, then you have to get much further away to fit both in the frame, which gives you less detail and intimacy," Swale continued.
Merv is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
