‘Dog’s Purpose’ Star Dennis Quaid on Alleged Abuse Controversy: “No Dogs Were Harmed”
Appearing on NBC’s Today show to promote A Dog’s Purpose, star Dennis Quaid first had to field questions about the recent controversy surrounding the film, after TMZ posted a video that seemed to show animal abuse taking place on set.
Quaid, insisted, though, that “absolutely no dogs were harmed.”
The actor reiterated what producer Gavin Polone explained in his Hollywood Reporter column earlier this week, that the TMZ video was edited in such a way as to make it seem as if the dog was being put in danger.
“This was a piece of video that was shot during the making of this. Some unknown person at the time. He also spliced, edited and manipulated that to make it look as if the dog was being abused,” Quaid said, later questioning, as Polone did, why if the shooter was such an animal fan did he hold onto the video until so close to the movie’s release date, when he knew he could get more money from TMZ for his seemingly incendiary clip.
As far as Quaid is aware, the dog seen in the TMZ video is “fine” and “every precaution was taken.”
“The dog had been in that water happily and even afterwards too,” Quaid added. “The dog was great. He wanted to do it again. … The dog is actually straining at the leash to get in the water because he loves it so much.”
In his column for THR earlier this week, Polone said footage of rehearsal for the scene show’s the dog not only “unafraid of the water but desperate to jump in.”
Later Quaid and co-hosts Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales shared their mutual love of dogs and discussed whether they permit their pets to…