“First Dog” is a great family movie about an orphaned boy who finds the president’s dog and goes on an adventure to return him to the White House. The director, Bryan Michael Stoller, auditioned me in between filming a scene at the San Jose Historical Park. Mr. Stoller has worked with lots of people in Hollywood like Dick Clark, and he’s made many movies for theater and TV release. He knows so much about film making that he wrote the “Dummies” guidebook to filmmaking. My dad bought a copy, and Mr. Stoller was nice enough to sign it for me.
A lot of the independent movie was filmed in Morgan Hill with the help of funding from the Sobrato family and lots of volunteer interns from Sobrato High School. First Dog premiered on December 6, 2009 at the CineLux Tennant Station movie theater. It was an exciting day with a red carpet event before the film and a party at the end. You can read more about the movie at this web address http://www.freelancenews.com/news/252326-mh-students-help-on-set-of-movie-first-dog, as well as see sample clips like this scene on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XlQPfqjBWQ
Best moment on set: I play one of the foster kids in the movie, and we have a food fight scene where I got hit in the eye hard with a slice of bread. My on-screen foster mom, played by Priscilla Barnes, comforted me after the scene because my eye teared up and really stung. She told me I was now truly an actress because I had suffered for my art but kept on going like a trooper. I was really proud of that, and it meant a lot coming from Priscilla who has been in lots of movies and TV shows (including “Three’s Company”) during her career as an actress.
Fun fact: Brian’s dog “Bear” is a co-star on “First Dog”, and the title of the movie really fit him! Brian is a friend of the Reagan family, whom Bear used to belong to. Getting to pet a presidential dog and be licked in return was a first I’ll always remember.
First Dog
Our “foster home”-- Victorian mansion in Morgan Hill
Al is a 30 year vet in the industry; he was friends with George Burns
Me and Bear, who used to belong to the Reagans
We get ready for the food-fight scene
Here’s a little bread-in-your-eye
Priscilla comforts me after bread-meets-eye
