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TO THE WOODS TODAY…
dr dolittle 2
Some things not even the most experienced first assistant director is going to think of. The summer 2001 release date for the sequel to the 1998 smash Dr Dolittle had been set. Not only Eddie Murphy - without whom the whole thing would have been unthinkable - but the three actresses who played his wife and two daughters, plus several of the actors who had voiced the 1998 menagerie… all were lined up to take the trip one more time. What no one had quite reckoned with was Tank the Bear.
Now Tank is a highly intelligent, highly trained animal belonging to Doug Seus, one of Hollywood’s most experienced animal trainers. Indeed, Tank is the successor to probably the only real-life bear to have had name recognition in the movie business: Bart, the “John Wayne of bear actors”, who appeared in The Bear (obviously), The Edge and Legends of the Fall. Sadly, Bart recently succumbed to cancer (and, like the Duke, got an obituary in Variety). And Tank took over.
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The man who talks to the animals - aka Eddie Murphy - is back in Dr Dolittle 2. And this time Dr D and the animals, led by
a circus bear called Archie, have a mission: saving the environment. Eleanor Singer reports.
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“Tank is by nature a loveable, easy-going, kick-back kind of bear,” says Seus. “He accepts life as it is: he just has a great attitude.” But not even Tank could entirely disregard the bear realities of life, particularly the fact that Dr Dolittle 2 started shooting in the autumn of last year, just when all self-respecting bears are settling down for a long winter sleep. Tank did his best to respond to the usual contractual goodies that bears get to keep them on message: apples, a bit of chicken, the occasional carrot, even dried dog food. But his metabolism wasn’t happy: it told him he should be sleeping.
Dolittle and daughters: Murphy with screen daughters Raven-Symoné and Kyla Pratt, plus rapper Lil’ Zane, the elder daughter’s boyfriend.
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The solution Seus found was one that all parents of jet-lagged infants will instantly recognise: as much playtime as possible, and lots and lots of positive reinforcement.
“Tank would complete a take,” says Dr D2 director Steve Carr, “then sit there, and there would be a chorus of ‘Good boy! Good boy!’ that would last 15 minutes. If I had received that much positive reinforcement, I’d be President!”
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“When I first read that I thought, ‘Pops!?’ Eddie Murphy from Beverly Hills Cop and Saturday Night Live as a ‘Pops’?”
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