Meet Jellybean, the Deaf Dog Star of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (Exclusive)

The biggest scene stealer in the new movie Five Sematary: Bloodlines it’s not David Duchovny, Pam Grier or Henry Thomas. That’s Jellybean, a 7-year-old Red Heeler who was “born to play” the role of unearthed zombie dog, according to his owner and trainer Melissa Millett.

And the fact that he is completely deaf is part of the reason for that.

“In a scary movie, we’re looking for long stares, silence, and focus, and those are things that are easier to achieve with a deaf dog,” says Millett, who taught Jellybean to lower his chin and maintain creepy movements through hand signals. slow during recording bloodlines, streaming on Paramount+ on October 6. The film is the predecessor of 2019 Five Sematary adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel.

Bloodlines Director and co-writer Lindsey Anderson Beer says Jellybean had “an incredibly slow walk that I thought was perfect for a zombie dog.”

She also “loved his look,” which — thanks to makeup, dirt and “Hollywood magic” — made the dog fit into the eerie tale of men and animals coming back from the dead.

“The first time Jellybean came out of the trailer with his hair disheveled and spiky and not looking like himself at all, it was so wonderful,” Beer tells PEOPLE.

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All in all, the director sees Jellybean’s hearing loss as an asset – and not just because he wasn’t freaked out by the loud noises on set.

“I loved that he was deaf and that I was able to show that animals with different abilities can also act and can serve a purpose,” she tells PEOPLE.

Before he found Millett and fame, Jellybean was born to a breeder who decided to drive the deaf puppy 10 hours from his hometown in Reno to the California-based Deaf Dog Rescue of America. Millett considers Jellybean lucky to have a breeder who surrendered the dog instead of abandoning the puppy or euthanizing it. Millett adopted Jellybean from a rescue and began training him for camera work.

Jellybean the dog actor.

Sherry Lemcke

“Here’s this dog that was thought to be untrainable, and now he’s playing the lead character in the highly anticipated Paramount+ movie,” she marvels. The dog has also appeared in several commercials and several film and TV projects (including the Sam Worthington thriller Broken and the upcoming series Orphan Black: Echoes)which earned him the nickname “Brad Pitt among dogs”.

“Just because there’s one thing he can’t do doesn’t mean there’s a million things he can’t do,” adds Millett, who has led Jellybean to two Guinness World Records for dog basketball tricks.

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How did the dog become such a star in the making? Jellybean is very serious and “lives to work,” says Millett. Case in point: na Bloodlinesanother dog, named Rugby, was there to act as Jellybean’s double.

“I said to the Rugby owners, ‘You’ve got a phenomenal dog, but one who’s probably going to warm the bench. Jellybean is never going to give up, ever,'” Millett recalls.

Beer calls the pup “the sweetest dog, very easy to work with.” But then, when the cameras roll, “he puts on that actor face and goes into a different mode.” (Millett admits that Jellybean is “typecast as a villain.” When he smiles, she says, “his expression can look like the Joker.”)

Jellybean, the dog actor in Pet Sematary: Bloodlines.

Philippe Bosse/Paramount

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Both Millett and Beer hope Jellybean’s big-picture turn as a star can make a breakthrough for other actors with disabilities, both canine and human.

“We have to always widen our nets in terms of thinking about what a different role means, and that applies to animals as well,” says Beer.

“And to all the other directors out there, if you’re looking for a brilliant dog actor, I would highly recommend Jellybean.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education