Moose goes from local ads to big time star-3/1/99-BY Karen Aho; Daily News Reporter
Screen actors are notorious for their fussy demands. Private trailers. Gourmet food. Undisturbed sleep when the cameras aren't rolling.
But special nonslip floors? A bed made of carpet and straw? 3Forty-plus pounds of bananas?
That's exactly what a California production company lavished on Seymour, a Big Game Alaska moose, at a Merrill Field hangar this weekend, proving that even a 1,000-pound lead with hairy feet deserves star treatment.
Seymour, a 3-year-old bull, is an experienced thespian. He's appeared in the IMAX film ''Alaska'' and in two commercials for AT&T Alascom. Viewers may remember him from the long-running spot last summer in which a young woman's parents scurry into a motor home and giggle as Seymour saunters away with a windsock caught in his antlers.
But Saturday's shoot could spell national fame.
Santa Monica producers called animal trainers, zoos and film executives across the country and Canada before finding in Alaska the star quality they needed: a bull moose that still had its antlers in late February and had a proven background in film. The search took nearly three weeks.
Now, not only did Seymour perform under budget -- the shoot took just eight hours -- but the commercial will give the as-yet inarticulate ungulate his first speaking part.
The ad, for a national auto parts and service company, features two country boys driving a pickup along a winding mountain road. Country tunes hum in the background.
They snicker as they pass three bright yellow moose-warning signs, two of which also read ''Really big ones'' or ''Not kidding.''
One tight bend later, Seymour appears in the middle of the road. The driver slams on his brakes and stops just short, to which Seymour nonchalantly turns and asks if their brakes are from the auto parts company. Mouth agape, the driver answers, ''Yes.''
''I appreciate it,'' says Seymour.
The lip movement, of course, will be automated on a computer, as will Seymour's insertion into the rest of the clip, which was shot in California.
The story was the brainchild of two Chicago ad agents whose impressions of moose came largely from cartoon character Bullwinkle.
''We wanted it to be fun to some extent, although brakes are very serious,'' said co-creator Tom Murphy, who snapped personal photos on set of the first live moose he'd ever seen. ''Moose are funny animals by nature.''
Seymour wasn't what most would call particularly funny Saturday. He'd been mildly sedated and whimpered when asked to stand. Four times he expressed his agitation by kicking his trainer, Mike Miller, who owns the Portage wildlife center where Seymour lives.
Producer Grayson Bithell has worked in the past with a black leopard (for Revlon) and a kangaroo (Qantas Air). Director David Merhar recently put a mouse in a miniature car for a Super Bowl Sunday Budweiser ad. But neither had ever seen a moose, let alone directed one to exit stage left.
Yet Seymour hit all his cues. He stood still for a profile, stared straight into the camera, moved his head up, and, yes, turned and exited stage left. Four perfect shots.
Miller and his assistant, James McCormick, moved Seymour with slight nudges and used bananas and willow sticks as lures.
''Seymour did everything we wanted him to,'' Merhar said. ''I guarantee you, after this, Seymour is going to have more jobs. In fact, he's probably going to have more jobs than most actors in L.A.''
Fearful of the large mammal, the producers had done everything to ensure his comfort.
Wednesday, the floor of the hangar was repainted to obtain a gritty surface so his cloved hooves wouldn't slip. Miller brought Seymour in Friday afternoon to acclimate him. The heat was lowered to 50 degrees and fans were put on high to drown out any airplane noise. A pen was set up in a dark corner, with carpet and lush layers of straw. Miller stayed overnight, and the producers brought in 40 pounds each of carrots and bananas, as well as bread, celery and green beans.
''It was a great concern of ours, that if we didn't treat him with great care and consideration, virtually treat him like a star, that he could lose his antlers at any time,'' Bithell said.
Copyright 1999 Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage Daily News
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