J.K. Simmons says the real top-billed star of Heart of the Beast was Uber, the dog who plays Odin. During a September 17 interview with MLB Network, the actor shared several funny details about working on the wilderness thriller with Brad Pitt and the film’s canine cast.
The first question was the one many dog lovers ask before buying a ticket. Simmons answered it immediately: “The dog does not die.” He then explained that the production gave Uber the kind of respect normally reserved for a human lead.
Uber was listed ahead of Brad Pitt
Simmons said “the first actor on the call sheet was Uber,” with Pitt listed second. The joke works because Odin is not treated as a sidekick in the movie. The combat dog is James Belmont’s partner and the one constant he has after a plane crash leaves them stranded in the Alaskan wilderness.
Pitt also prepared for that relationship long before the cameras started rolling. Simmons said the actor arrived almost two months before filming to bond with Uber and the other dogs used for stunt work. That time matters in a survival movie where Pitt and Odin need to move like partners who already understand each other.
Simmons described Odin as “Brad’s partner, Brad’s guardian, Brad’s best friend.” His own character has a more cautious relationship with the dog. He called it a fragile truce, with both of them watching the other instead of becoming instant friends.
Simmons had a different problem: the canoe
While Pitt worked with the dogs, Simmons found himself fighting the weather and a difficult canoe. He joked that rowing it across a windy lake was “my biggest problem,” even though only a few seconds of that effort made it into the finished movie.
It is the kind of behind-the-scenes story that makes a short scene look very different. On screen, a canoe crossing can pass in a moment. For the actor doing the rowing, it can mean repeated takes, wind pushing the boat off course and a lot of work that the audience never sees.
Heart of the Beast arrives September 25
Heart of the Beast stars Pitt as Special Forces officer James Belmont. After a plane crash, James and Odin must survive the terrain, weather and new threats around them. David Ayer directs, with Simmons and Anna Lambe also in the cast.
The film opens in U.S. theaters on September 25. Simmons’s interview adds a lighter story to a tense survival movie: the dog got top billing, Brad Pitt did the bonding work, and Simmons was left trying to make a canoe cooperate.
