Based on the trailer, director Lasse Hallström’s A Dog’s Purpose looks even more emotionally manipulative than the average dog movie. It stars Josh Gad as the inner monologue of an animal who lives, dies, and is reincarnated as a new dog multiple times, learning and teaching heartwarming lessons along the way. Basically, it seems like it’s planning to do for dogs what movies like God’s Not Dead do for Jesus.
In a shocking and depressing bit of irony, though, it looks like the filmmakers actually put at least one real dog’s life in danger while filming the movie. This comes from TMZ (via Consequence Of Sound), which shared a video today that was taken during the filming of A Dog’s Purpose and seems to show a trainer forcing a dog into churning water. When the dog resists, the trainer pulls it into the water by its collar and forces it to swim, which it does for a moment before being swept to the end of the pool. The crew then begins to panic, and the video cuts out.
Needless to say, if you have any particular affinity for animals, you might not want to watch this:
Apparently, Hallström was present while this was happening, and at least one crew member was “extremely disturbed” by what was happening. Amblin Partners and Universal Pictures, the studio’s behind A Dog’s Purpose, are reportedly investigating the footage.