For cats that steal the show to rats that pass the scream test, David
Stewart is your man. Sara Villiers reports.
DAVID STEWART is a film and theatre agent with a distinctive list of
clients; his ambitious starlets love to preen and purr and sport furs,
feathers . . . and whiskers, horns, and scales. Stewart is the Max
Clifford of the animal kingdom, supplying the entertainment industry
with everything from cats and dogs to buzzards and four-feet-long Thai
water dragons.
He spotted a gap in the Scottish market three years ago when he was
working for a deer farmer who was asked to supply deer for a television
commercial. Stewart, a biology graduate who specialised in animal
behaviour, tossed the idea around and finally set up Creature Feature, a
one-man outfit based at Gelston Mill in Castle Douglas, specialising in
''expertly trained and managed animals''.
His creatures have since appeared in programmes like Rab C. Nesbitt,
Strathblair, The Advocates, Punch Drunk, and Taggart. Stewart
accompanies them on shoots; he has to operate under the Performing
Animals Regulation Act, following strict guidelines for the care and
training of his thespian beasts and fowls.
In the past, animals may have been badly treated by the film world,
but legendary atrocities -- horses sent tumbling over cliffs, exploding
cows -- are no longer tolerated. Indeed, in Hollywood, performing
animals are now fussed over with the kind of care once reserved for the
leading lady. Hundreds of rats used in an underground scene in an
Indiana Jones movie were individually washed and blow-dried after their
stint on camera, and were each paid #5 a day for their efforts.
Stewart demurs when asked about how much he charges. ''It varies,'' he
shrugs. While the majority of his work is for TV programmes and
commercials he has also worked with the stage sector. Last year he
supplied the Grassmarket Project with a dozen rats for their production
of Die Pest.
Rodents -- small, easily managed, but with big shock potential -- are
popular theatrical props. The theatre company, Cyborg, used a big rat in
a production at the Theatre Workshop a few years ago, to the dismay of
many of the theatre staff.
More usually, theatre companies tend to shy away from the use of live
animals because of the unpredictability factor. Amateur companies are,
however, sometimes tempted to use animals as a gimmick -- a production
of the Wizard of Oz at the Mitchell Theatre last year generated
unprecedented publicity due to the audition for Toto the dog. The two
mongrels chosen turned in sparky performances, while a donkey in an
amateur version of Carmen was once praised by this paper as ''the best
in the show''.
''The most important task is finding an animal with the right
temperament,'' insists Stewart. ''You have to know exactly what they
have to do.''
Since the formation of Creature Feature 20 months ago, Stewart's own
cat, Spatz, has been in constant demand for film work. It's the
archetypal rags to riches story. Spatz was one of a litter of wild cats
about to be put down by a vet. Stewart rescued him at the eleventh hour
and set him on the path to fame. Spatz has shown his gratitude with some
Oscar-winning performances in productions like the Hydro Electric ad,
where he was called upon to curl up in front of the fire and fall
asleep.
Perfectly normal behaviour for a feline? Well, animals, especially
cats, can be pretty perverse, and patience has to be an essential
credential for an animal agent. ''You can't train cats, but you can
bribe them,'' admits Stewart.
His trickiest job to date has been the seemingly simple task of
persuading Polly, the parrot who starred in the Napier University ad
(''We've Dropped the Poly'') to look left, then right, then down. ''At
one point I tried to move it from one shoulder to another and it thought
'sod this' and took a chunk out of my finger,'' he says ruefully.
Happily Stewart's charges are usually better behaved, winning the kind
of hearty commendations from the industry which belie at least the
latter half of the ''never work with children or animals'' maxim. ''The
best animals I have ever worked with,'' praised Sarah Hellings, a
director of Taggart, who has employed two dogs, a cat, cow, goat,
chickens, rabbits, doves, and toads from Creature Feature. Johnny Morris
reckoned the Thai water dragon, which perched on his shoulder during a
clip for Edinburgh Nights in August, was ''the best reptile I've ever
worked with,'' while Gregor Fisher delivered the ultimate approbation of
a canine co-star in Rab C Nesbitt: ''The dug was great.''
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