'The Friend' Is a Great (Dane) Of A Film Thanks To Bill Berloni
When filmmakers reached out to Bill Berloni about finding and training a dog to co-star with Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in the film “The Friend,” his answer was direct.
“I basically told them you can’t shoot this movie," said the Haddam-based animal trainer and behaviorist. “Theres no dog that can do the things you’re asking for in the script — especially with a Great Dane.”
Berloni should know. He has worked with creative teams for a number of Broadway shows, earning him a Tony Award for his now nearly 50 years of working with dogs, geese, rats and other pets and critters on stage. But his experiences in film and television, he said, have been less than ideal, with the animals in that fast-paced industry with little time for rehearsals “treated more like props.”
The filmmakers ultimately agreed to work collaboratively with Berloni, which he said was unprecedented in his movie-making work.
The film, which had its theatrical release in late March, is based on the 2018 National Book Award-winning novel by Sigrid Nunez. In March, Nunez was named as one of the recipients of Yale's $175,000 Windham-Campbell Prize.
The book and film centers on Iris (Watts), a writer grieving the suicide of her close friend and mentor Walter (Murray) when she inherits not only his literary legacy but his dog, a Harlequin Great Dane named Apollo. The reluctant caretaker finds her new roommate taking over — and destroying — her tiny Manhattan rent-controlled apartment where dogs are not allowed. The film is about grief, friendship and the special connections between people and their pets.
As in the popular book, the dog had to be a black and white Great Dane with pointy ears, said Berloni. It also had to have an owner who was agreeable for the multiple months of filming in New York City.
The search took Berloni across the country for more than a year, finally landing in Iowa where they met Bing, a 155-pound animal that perfectly matched the image on the cover of Nunez’ novel. Scoping out the animal’s personality and behavior, Berloni turned to the filmmakers and said, “If you don’t hire this dog I’m not doing the movie.’ I’ve never seen — not just a Great Dane but any dog — this good.”
After training the original Sandy in the 1976 hit musical “Annie” when he was an intern at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam to decades later finding and training another pound dog named Bowdie, this time for a starring role in another musical there, “Because of Winn Dixie.”
But this majestic and massive breed — Berloni called it the “king of dogs” —posed a special challenge.
“In terms of working dogs that have drive, Great Danes are gentle giants and very sensitive and unless you train them to be active, they’re kind of lazy, like couch potatoes.”
But the lively and easy-going Bing, already trained by its owner-breeder, Bev Klingensmith, was special and perfect for the film.
Following two false starts — the pandemic and the actors’ SAG-AFTRA strike — filming began last year, with the 5-year-old canine, his owner, Berloni and a back-up Great Dane (which was a distant cousin to Bing) all residing in a small house with a fenced back yard in Staten Island.
Key to the dog’s performance was Watts willingness to create a personal connection with Bing before filming began.
“Naomi is a dog lover and a month before we started filming I went to her house three times a week with Bing for them to bond and for her to teach him commands but to also make her feel she’s safe.”
Berloni said “The Friend” is a film in which the animal plays a real character telling the story of grief and of two characters who heal each other. “One happens to be a human and the other one is a canine.”
The film is one of Berloni’s career highlights. “This is the movie that I always wanted to make, about the human-animal bond,” said Berloni. His aim was not to have the dog perform tricks but to be real.
“I didn’t want people to say, ‘I wish my dog could do that,” he said, referring to other works in which dogs display extraordinary tricks. “I want the audience to say, ‘My dog does that,’ because then it draws you into what the characters are feeling because you felt it with your pet. I think after the film all dog lovers are going to go home and either hug their dog because they’ve just seen what their dog does on the big screen or think fondly of the moments they had with their pet.”
Berloni will be honored at Goodspeed Musicals’ annual gala on May 17 at Smith Farm Gardens in East Haddam. Shelter dogs will be available for adoption at the event.