A local animal trainer is making her feature film debut in the motion picture remake of a classic Stephen King novel.
Melissa Millett, who is known for her stunt dog show “Ultimutts,” was in charge of training five felines for the remake of Pet Semetary.
“It’s extremely difficult to train a cat. They’re very independent,” Millett said.
Millett spent 10 months filming in Montreal with the five rescues who will all share the role of a cat named Church in the upcoming film.
“Some were movement cats. Most of the cats that were comfortable enough were young, so we had two kittens that were about a year old (who were more involved with moving),” Millett said.
“We had one cat who is the most chilling cat in the world. Anywhere you put him he would stay, so he had a major role for all of those stay scenes, but he wasn’t much of a mover,” she said.
“We took all their personalities together to create the Church cat.”
Millett’s “Ultimutts” show also features a cat who can do incredible things like ride a scooter and do a handstand. It was this cat that caught the attention of the film’s animal coordinator.
After finding five rescue cats that fit the proper description, Millett along with three other Londoners trained the furry felines to be movie ready in just two months.
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Training cats, she said, is all about personality.
“There was one cat that was kind of a hissy, grumpy guy who didn’t like the other cats,” she said. To get that cat ready for a scene, the trainers would “reinforce so-called ‘naughty behaviours.'”
“When he hisses at you, you say ‘good boy’ and give him a treat, so the cat then learns that if he hisses he will get a treat,” Millett said.
“You have to reinforce behaviours that match the personality of the cat.”
Pet Semetary is set to hit theatres April 5, 2019.