I Am Legend might have been certainly one of a number of movies that helped Will Smith set up himself as a critical actor within the mid to late 2000s (together with The Pursuit of Happiness and Seven Kilos), however everyone knows who the real star of the apocalyptic sci-fi blockbuster was.
The sequences between Robert Neville (performed by Smith) and his beloved German Shepherd, Sam, who was given to him as a pet by his daughter earlier than she died in a helicopter crash, had been by far essentially the most shifting within the movie.They had been steadily poignant, sometimes humorous, and, at one level, utterly tragic. However, earlier than you cry your self to sleep eager about how that narrative ended for Sam (spoiler alert: not properly), it is price noting that the precise life story is far, a lot happier.
Even if the movie was launched greater than a decade in the past, Abbey, the canine that performed Sam, remains to be alive and properly. Even higher, she’s nonetheless residing along with her coach’s household, Steve Berens, who informed LADbible that the 13-year-old canine is now having fun with retirement together with his daughter and her kids. “She’s older now, and he or she does not hear a lot,” he defined. “However she’s nonetheless kicking, and he or she nonetheless enjoys a ball and a bone.”
Abbey has ‘all the time been a part of the household,’ based on Berens, who owns the animal coaching agency Animals of Distinction, since movie producers requested him to supply and prepare a feminine German Shepherd for the position of Sam.
He elaborated: “We obtained her in the course of July and shot her on the finish of September, so it was a very quick changeover.
She did not come from a coaching background, and he or she knew nothing.” She was schooled in lots of the fundamentals required for movie work, after which instantly for sure moments “It was nerve-racking at first, however she actually got here on robust. She’s a pleasant canine who learnt shortly.” Berens stated working with Smith as ‘fantastic,’ and Abbey was additionally an enormous admirer of her human co-star.
He said: “If you take care of a whole lot of performers, they are not that within the animal; they see it as one thing the general public could be as a substitute of them.
“Will, however, was under no circumstances like that. He realized this was his co-star, and he actually loved it and acquired into it. He was a pleasure to work with.” I imagine she preferred him, and this made a distinction.
I believe the connection within the image was one of many issues I used to be most happy with and happy with.”
“He had said it through the channels, however he did not truly say it on to me,” he defined. “I did not need to see it finish poorly – you understand how a whole lot of these celebs fall in love with their co-stars, after which as soon as they go on to the following movie, they’re gone.”
“I do not know if he would have come to me straight.” If you train and spend that a lot time with somebody, you construct a robust bond. She’s all the time been with us, in the home and with our different pets. She’s all the time been an necessary a part of our household.”
Abbey’s coaching continued after I Am Legend, as she went on to get a number of little roles, including, “Nothing of a lot depth or was notably distinctive, however she had tiny bits right here and there.”
Apart than that, she’s been a pet, a household canine. “There are bigger corporations that flip issues over extra steadily.” We’re a smaller company, so it is just a little extra of a private state of affairs. She’s actually within the entrance yard proper now.”
Berens claims his agency is little, however that does not imply it does not generate large issues. Along with Abbey’s work in I Am Legend, the coach has labored on different Adam Sandler movies and even offered and educated the canine Milo in The Masks. Whereas he largely works with canine, vehicles, and birds, Berens is used to going a bit off-piste.
“As an animal coach, you all the time have your individual inventory, and also you all the time need to work with these as a result of they’re your animals,” he defined.
“Nevertheless it does not all the time work that method, and particularly with Adam, he’d write one thing so out of the bizarre that we might need to exit and get it, prep it, and put it collectively for the image.” It wasn’t all the time the identical factor.
” However he additionally believes that each animal might be educated to some extent.”
That is the issue about animal coaching: it is an artwork of deception.
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