Animal Stars: Behind the Scenes with Your Favorite Animal Actors

It’s an old Hollywood cliché that you never want to work with children or animals. Well, Animal Stars dispels half of that rule, offering numerous stories of animals in prominent film roles and how quality training and the right conditions can make for movie magic both onscreen and on set. Wolves, horses, monkeys, penguins, snakes, and even insects get in on the cinematic fun, under the watchful eye of animal rights organizations and trainers with decades of experience.

From behavioral techniques and do-not-do’s with animals to biographies of animal stars and anecdotes about actors, directors and animals interacting during filming, this book is a love letter to the trainers and organizations that keep these animals safe. And although these animals are usually stealing the show onscreen, the trainers and their stories are what make this book worth a read.

To be honest, most of the celebrity testimonials and quotes add nothing of substance to the book, blandly praising the American Humane Association but offering little insight into the animals or the work of the trainers. (A few, like Hailee Steinfeld’s, are brief but clearly heartfelt.) However, both film buffs and animal lovers will find plenty to interest them within the pages of Animal Stars.