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by
Kieth Merrill
An
ancient Chinese proverb asserts, “A picture can express 10,000
words.”
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Susan
Wood as Cathy Stevens, "The Dog Lady", and newcomer
Adam Hicks as son Michael. Cathy Stevens created an orphanage
for dogs abandon in the depression - in a town that has
a NO DOG ordinance. Conflict from the first frame. |
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Aunt
Delores [Bonita Friedericy] with her favorite customer,
Mabel, [Dorthy Brodesser]. Bonny took the character of
Aunt Delores to delicious heights. What a terrific actress.
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When
the pictures flash before us at 24 images per second the pictures
appear to move and we transcend altogether the ability
to describe the experience with words.
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Mrs
Clancey [Kapri Merrill ] goes into labor in the middle of
rehearsing the school play. Hilarious scene with Kapri and
Mindy Sterling. |
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The
"Doglady" on her rescue mission. |
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The
Mayor's house on the night of the annual Mayor's Christmas
party. Turns out that the Mayor and the evil dogcatcher
are brothers !
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Movies are ultimately about pictures – hundreds of thousands of pictures projected
intermittently in such rapid sequence that they create the illusion
of motion. When Aguste and Louis Lumiere projected their film,
La Sortie des ouvriers de l’uine Lumiere [“Workers Leaving
the Lumiere Factory”] in 1895 they changed forever the power
of pictures to express ideas and feelings that words alone cannot.
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Writer
/ Director Kieth Merrill giving direction to principal
cast, Eric Lutes as "The Coach", New comer Jordon-Claire
Green who will be introduced in this film -- the incredible
Susan Woods as the doglady, John Billingsly [background
- just off his big success as supporting co-star to Denzel
Washington in Out of Time and the venerable and seasoned
Richard Riehle as The Mayor. We were blessed with an extraordinary
cast.,
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Dogcatcher
Doyle calling on Aunt Delores with a little Christmas
cheer and great hopes for a little Christmas kiss under
the mistletoe. John Billingsly and Bonita Friedericy are
married in real life which made the marvelous scenes between
them MORE fun than you can imagine.
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Our
handsome young leading man, Adam Hicks, with one of the
hero dogs of the movie.
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As “Film Editor” of Meridian magazine, I am continually
expected to use words to talk about pictures. This month I decided
to use pictures rather than words to express myself. Rather than
write words about some “picture-related” topic, I decided to take
you behind the scenes of my latest film, The 12 Dogs of Christmas,
and let pictures say everything I have to say. I decided to let
pictures express my passion for making movies.
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The
evil dog-catcher and his "road warrior" side
kick [Jim Jackman] make wonderful bad guys. They are determined
to eliminate all of the dogs in Doverville -- while the
kids are determined to save and protect them. The dogcatcher,
played brilliantly by John Billingsly we will soon discover
has an even more dastardly intention in the bowels of
the awful dog pound prison where he takes the hapless
dogs who fall victim to his net or the ominous
dogcatching machine.
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The
dogcatcher's machine evolves with an every increasing
number of ways to catch the dogs - I had great fun designing
this strange machine and watching it come to life. That
is the joy of movies. A whimsical idea becomes reality
before your very eyes.
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Dogcatcher's
cat, Old Scratch can smell a dog a mile away. "Old
Scratch" is another name of the devil in case you
didn't get it.
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The completed film will include over 144,000 distinct frames [pictures] and
require no “words of introduction”. Until then a few words
are essential to put the few selected pictures in context.
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Emma,
played by new-comer Jordon-Claire Green [JC] discovers
the ultimate fate of the dogs in the old barn in the woods
where the "missing dogs" are pitted against
each other in mortal combat. Here she drops from the loft
to save YehTeh, her friend's old English Sheepdog from
certain destruction in the jaws of the vicious German
Shepherd.
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What
begins as a very stormy relationship between Aunt Delores
and Emma when Emma shows up on her doorstep looking for
a place to stay -- evolves to a wonderful friendship and
a chance for Delores to "do something about that
hair honey" at long last.
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The
big climax of the movie is "the show" - The
12 Dogs of Christmas". Here Kambria Porter plays
the Poodle girl. Rocket, the poodle plays Max. This was
one incredible dog.
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Emma Kragen wrote The 12 Dogs of Christmas on a paper napkin when she
was 7 years old. Her father, famed talent manager Ken Kragen,
showed it to his publisher. “They flipped”, Ken told me, and Emma’s
prose was made into a book. It rapidly became a best selling children’s
book.
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Writer
/ Director Kieth Merrill gives the cast instructions before
a
scene at the old barn in the woods.
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Kids,
dogs and Christmas.. we were laughing and crying and the
movie wasn't even finished.
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The
magic of kids and dogs and music. Here Kapri Lyons catches
the last of the lab puppies and hurries to her spot.
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When Ken called me shortly after Christmas and asked if I would be interested
in making The 12 Dogs of Christmas into a movie, I couldn’t
say no. First of all, Ken Kragen is one of the really good guys
in Hollywood. We have been friends – personally and professionally – a
long time. But most of all, it was the challenge.
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Emma
first hears about her strange "aunt Delores"
from a disgruntled lady in furs on her way back to New
York.
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The
popular Richard Riehle as Mayor Nobel Doyle.
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The
talented and delightful Jordon-Claire Green with Puppy.
Happy at last.
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It has been said that there are 3 things to avoid at all cost when making movies:
KIDS, ANIMALS AND SNOW. Moreover, the source material was a book
for kids, 12 pages long with mostly pictures. Now THAT is adaptation
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Denny
and the Bully Boys make Emma - who just arrived from Pittsburg
- most unwelcomed in their little close knit village of
Doverville,
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Jordon-Claire
Green as Emma.
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There was a concept in place but no screenplay. It was already mid-January.
I locked the doors, turned off the phone, asked Dagny to slide
power bars under the door and wrote like a man possessed. Fourteen
days later I emerged with a first draft that seemed to capture
the spirit of the book and everyone’s imagination. And why not?
It was filled with KIDS and DOGS and CHRISTMAS – which meant
of course SNOW.
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My son, Daenen,
seen here with one of the hero dogs, was one of the 2
producers on the film. Great fun to have the rising generation
so involved in our wonderful world of movies. The other
producer is Sean Covel whose indy film, Napoleon Dynamite
was the darling of Sundance and sold for 4.7 million.
Working with the rising generation of young film makers
is exhilerating.
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Emma
persuades Aunt Delores to get the dogs ready for the Big
Show.
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Emma
tries to find a job as paper girl -
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In our first meeting our animal trainers said bluntly, “it can’t be done.” In
our last big scene we put 70 children and 58 dogs on stage into
one spectacular finale’. You’re going to love this picture.
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The Dogcatchers
chase Cathy Stevens [doglady] and the kids to the edge
of town beyond where they have no jurisdiction. Curses.
Foiled again.
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Miss
Walsh, played with delight by Mindy Sterling, teaches
spelling. Mindy is best known for her role as" Executive
Assistant" to Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies,.
Terrific actor.
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Mrs.
Walsh [Mindy Sterling of Austin Powers fame] confronts
Emma & Puppy.
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We found a magic little village in Maine that looked like a place created by Norman Rockwell. The town
loved the movie. The movie loved the town.
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Executive
Producer Ken Kragen with writer / director, Kieth Merrill.
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Writer
/Director Kieth Merrill lining up a shot at the historic
railroad station in Conway, New Hampshire.
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Director
- the red x on the hat is to direct the children's eye
lines..
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To tell you the story with words in order to ensure that the pictures
make sense, would contradict my picture versus word thesis,
so use your imagination. Read the captions. Enjoy being on location
with us as much as we loved making this marvelous movie. It has
something for everyone and is coming for Christmas.
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70
kids 58 dogs - and the wonder of Christmas. Coming in
December to a theater near you.
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© 2004 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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