I had a very famous trainer tell me once, 'You can usually train a wild animal but never tame a wild animal, ever.' They are always going to be wild, no matter what anybody says.
The dog actors and the relationship they have with their trainers is one of the most beautiful things I've ever watched happen in front of me.
It's just extremely difficult to shoot with five dogs. They're great, and the people who handle them are amazing. But they're animals.
Circus lions are mean. They don't know anything about affection training.
A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime.
In 'True Grit,' we had a vulture, a trained vulture... that was a pain and that was - even by vulture standards - probably a stupid vulture, and that was frustrating.
Cats are great with clicker training. There's a great video you can get called "Clicker Magic". There's a scene in that video where a cat is trained to go through a mini dog agility course - it's all done with food motivation and clicker training. You can train them to do all sorts of thing.
Bart The Bear was fantastic to work with. Absolutely brilliant and so, so good. The things that that bear could do to order! He was one of the best actors I've ever worked with.
Cruelty, as a fine art, has attained its perfect flower in the trained-animal world.
I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people.
