Diane Keaton & Kevin Kline Display Puppy Love for Dog Rescue in SONY’s “Darling Companion”

We are so excited because (the big-hearted and animal welfare-aware) Lawrence Kasdan, Academy Award-nominated director of films like “The Big Chill” and “Wyatt Earp” is bringing audiences the bacon this spring with a full-length feature film about –

guess what-?

A DOG RESCUE! Hooray!

(Well it’s about other things, too, but of course we wanted to focus on the rescue aspect and the reward of that part. Even the director has feelings about that — see below section*)

“DARLING COMPANION” is a Sony Pictures film starring Academy Award winners and nominees up the ying-yang –big-time stars like Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins, Elisabeth Moss, Mark Duplass, Ayelet Zurer, Sam Shepard, and…. BUM BUM BUM…

Kasey the Dog!!!

Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline with Kasey the Doggie Star

“Darling Companion” is a movie that’s about something my family would do– and probably yours too if you frequent ThoughtsFurPaws.com. Check out the preview here.

… It goes like this:

—-

This is where the film takes a turn: the preview, obviously, won’t give you ending details — but does portray the awesome ensemble cast seriously turning up the humor, heartache, & heartiness in the feature film.

In a nutshell, the Sony Pictures rep told me: “On the side of a busy freeway, a woman finds the love, devotion, commitment, and courage she needs – all wrapped up in a bloodied stray dog who becomes her “darling companion.” When the beloved canine goes missing, a ‘shaggy-dog’ search adventure plays out, drawing together friends and family and rekindling a lifelong love.”

Watch the preview and you’ll be hooked! It’s classic Diane Lane – she’s at her best with emotions, laughter and that sassy yet classy ‘tude she always carries on-screen (a la “Something’s Gotta Give”) that we ladies all love and respect!

Kasdan, in the press kit, had this to say about the dog rescue-aspect of the film… I think it’s something I will forever respect, remember and know him for, and something that we ALL can relate to:

“Anyone who’s ever had a dog knows they live in the moment. That fact of their behavior can have a revivifying effect on the people around them. While humans worry about the future and mull over the past, dogs bring us back to the present with the uncomplicated joy they take in the here and now – getting outside with us for a walk, having their meal, being stroked.”

* “The movie probably began the day my wife Meg and I rescued a mutt named Mac from a cacophonous dog shelter in Los Angeles. After taking that dog into our lives and affections, he was lost during an outing in the Rockies. We spent three weeks searching, calling his name up and down mountain trails, enlisting our friends and family. The whole town was on the lookout. Just at the moment we had given up hope, a stranger who had seen our flyers found Mac playing with her dogs by the river. Mac was dirty and thin, but uninjured. Friends and searchers around town and across the country celebrated his recovery,” he said.

“We converged in Utah to shoot our movie with a limited budget and a tight schedule, helped along by some very remarkable dogs and their equally remarkable trainers… “Darling Companion” became one of the most gratifying film-making experiences I’ve ever had,” Kasdan added.

Crying yet?

Kasey the Dog, "Freeway" - Image Courtesy ExpoSay.com

You will in the movie – I can guarantee it. You’ll even cry happy tears in the preview!

Another notable tidbit about this movie… featuring our four-legged furry friends? (The doggie actor is Kasey – beautiful and smart, typical movie star right? – According to edhat.com, he was the only star at the premier that “drew ahhs from the hardened and professional press on the sidelines. He is one very cute pup.”

♥ ♥ On that note – for the record: ThoughtsFurPaws.com WHOLE-HEARTEDLY disagrees with the poo-poo review on the Montreal Gazette website’s blog “Cine Files” here saying, “the trailer is not at all promising.”

Growl, grrr, boo-hiss to that writer.

After all, filmmakers took inspiration not only from Mac’s three-week-long, outdoors-lost-rescue “tale,” but also from his sister-in-law’s very dramatic rescue of a dog on a busy Detroit freeway.

“She pulled over and scrambled up the embankment, just like Diane in the movie. It’s amazing how the instinct to protect an animal can galvanize you,” says Meg Kasdan, wife of director Lawrence. Her sister named the dog Freeway, and the name stuck to the movie’s canine character.

Another cool tidbit: the involvement of an entire mountain town in the search for a dog is true, including the participation of a friend who offered psychic clues to Mac’s whereabouts!

The “Darling Companion” movie opened at the  Santa Barbara International Film Festival and opens in LA and NY on April 20, 2012; it’s rated PG-13 and is just over an hour-and-a-half.