ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Dogman stars Caleb Landry Jones and Jojo T. Gibbs about the new action thriller movie. The duo discussed acting with dogs and what stood out about their characters. Dogman is set to release in select theaters on March 29 before expanding on April 5.
“From acclaimed director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional), DogMan tells the story of a man who, following a traumatic childhood, finds salvation and justice through his connection with dogs,” reads the film‘s synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Caleb, you really live up to the film’s title here because you got to film with so many wonderful dogs. What was most unique about your scene partners in so many scenes being canine thespians rather than human actors?
Caleb Landry Jones: Well, I wouldn’t put Jojo in this bag. [Laughs]. But a lot of actors … they come in with something very planned and, “It’s going to be just like this and I’m not going to deviate from it,” you know? And that gets kind of tricky sometimes … for something to breathe, for something to happen. So the dogs make it not that way all the time. [Laughs]. And they just keep you on your toes in the sense that, when they’re not paying attention to you, they’re not paying attention to you. When they are, they are. When they want something, they want something, you know what I mean? There’s nothing that you can control in that way. For an actor, I think it’s great. It’s really, really great because you’ve just got to be responsive.
Jojo T. Gibbs: Improv-y.
Jones: Yeah. [Laugh].
Jojo, I loved your character in the film because there’s an inherent empathy with her and there’s no judgment when she deals with Douglas. Can you speak to what stood out about Evelyn to you when you took this role?
Gibbs: What stood out mostly was her interest in even being a prison psychiatrist. I think you have to be a very particular personality to want to work with mental criminals that also have mental health issues. That’s a complex person, you know? She, to me, probably felt brave but also damaged in her own right. Maybe that was part of the reason why she had that influence to work in that profession.
Caleb, you’re going to work with Luc Besson again on Dracula. What about him as a director really stood out and made you want to come back and continue this creative collaboration?
Jones: Very, very few people I’ve worked with have said what’s going to happen. And then, what happens is what they say. And Luc is someone that he says, “What’s going to happen?” That’s what happened. [Laugh]. But Luc is … I’ve never worked with anybody that shot the film, that wrote the film — every aspect of making it, he’s a part of. He’s on top of. The way he works with the crew, the way he gets what he knows he needs. He’s someone that you can really trust and follow when making a film. We had a great time making this and a lot of impossible things that we made possible. [Laughs]. I’m looking to do that again. [Laughs].
