Samuel L. Jackson on his “Snack-Oriented” Captain Marvel Co-Star
The version of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, of course) you see in Captain Marvel is a younger, less cynical S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. It’s not just the fact that he’s still got two eyes and a lot less mileage on him—he also seems to love cats. Fury has to be pulled away from Carol Danvers’ cat Goose in one of the trailers, and he seems slightly heartbroken. We now know from early screenings that Goose is one of the film’s most beloved characters. Considering Fury and Goose have some kind of relationship in the film, it was natural to assume Jackson himself was a cat fan. It’s not the case.
Co-director Anne Boden and stars Brie Larson and Jackson were asked about working with their feline co-star(s) at a recent press conference. It turns out Larson is severely allergic to cats, for starters. Goose was actually played by four cats, with the leading feline, Reggie, doing most of the heavy thespian lifting. The reason they used four cats was that Reggie is a bit too well trained; they needed to capture Goose doing cat-things, not necessarily cat actor things. i09 reports that Boden wanted some regular cat action along with a cat who could follow directions:
“There’s something about getting a cat to just do what he normally does, and it was part of the struggle, actually, of having a very well-trained, very directable cat on screen. Sometimes we just wanted him to like, you know, do the random thing that a cat’s going to do, like lick his paw or go rub up against somebody. So, we sometimes had to be, you know, kind of suggest to the trainer, maybe we should just let him do his thing for a little while because there’s something about the spontaneity of like, what an animal can do.”
As for Jackson, he admitted he’s not really an animal person, but he respected Reggie’s work ethic:
“No, I am not a cat person. But I’m also not a dog, bird or a fish person, either. I don’t engage pets. You know, Reggie is like most animals that people bring to set that have been trained to do this, that, or the other — he’s snack-oriented. You give him something to eat, he shows up. You give him something to eat, you talk softly and nice to him, give him something to eat again. They love you. You know, so, it works out. And… there were actually four cats, but Reggie did the majority of the heavy lifting most of the time.”
Good for you, Reggie. We look forward to seeing you in action when Captain Marvel premieres this Friday, March 8.
Featured image: Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL. Goose. Photo: Film Frame. ©Marvel Studios 2019
