The Big Picture

Caleb Landry Jones’ performance in DogMan is a standout, showcasing his dedication and talent in bringing the character to life.
Luc Besson highlights the importance of great actors like Jones, comparing his style to veteran actors like Gary Oldman and Dustin Hoffman.
The production of DogMan faced challenges with over 100 dogs on set, with only 5 trained, requiring clever strategies to work with them effectively.

According to writer and director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element), the action thriller DogMan is “the essence” of his 40-year filmmaking career. Starring Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out), the film is about a young man whose life has been anything but easy, and the salvation he finds through his canine found family, French singer Édith Piaf, and vigilantism.

With the movie now in select theaters, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to talk with Besson in an exclusive interview about working with Jones and future projects. Besson praises Jones, who has been a stand-out in numerous supporting roles, including X-Men: First Class, Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out, and The Florida Project, and starred in Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral in 2012. Of this latest film, Besson says DogMan wouldn’t have been possible without the actor’s devotion and desire to understand the overall vision, and compares his style to “all the great actors,” like Gary Oldman and Dustin Hoffman. He also reveals which scene brought the crew to tears while filming.

For more on how DogMan changed throughout production and updates on Besson’s upcoming movies, like June and John (that he shot on an iPhone) and Dracula: A Love Tale, which reunites the auteur with Jones and co-stars Christoph Waltz, check out the full conversation below.

DogMan A boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs.Release Date March 29, 2024 Director Luc Besson Runtime 114 Minutes Main Genre Crime Writers Luc Besson

COLLIDER: The last time we spoke, if you can believe it, was 2017. I remember the interview because I brought up Netflix and streaming because it was kind of a new thing. What’s your take on the way streaming has sort of permeated and taken over?

LUC BESSON: I think that the COVID changed a lot of things because we shut down the screens for almost two years. Suddenly, the streamers became even bigger because you’re at home, you’re on TV, and it’s there. So, it changed the habits of people a lot so they’ve deserted the theaters a little bit because now they stay home. I think it’s too bad because I still love to see a movie on a big screen with a lot of people. I love that. The streamers, I’m happy for them. And if the people are happy, I’m happy for the people. I’m not even for or against, or anything. It’s just not the same way of watching a movie or consuming a movie. It’s just different for me. It’s closer to TV. Cinema is getting out of your apartment and going to another place. So, for me it’s not really a competition, in fact.

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I agree with you. Going to see a movie in a movie theater, that’s me going to church. Watching something at home is not even close.

BESSON: Do you know who the biggest enemy of movies in theaters is? The weather. [Laughs]

You have a fantastic resume. If someone has never seen anything that you’ve written or directed or produced, what’s the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

BESSON: Depends on how old they are, how they are, and which country. But if it’s someone coming from Poland, I will say The Big Blue because they don’t have the sea. If it’s coming from Switzerland, I will say Léon [The Professional] because they don’t know this kind of aggression. If one movie will maybe resume my entire portfolio, that will be probably DogMan. I think DogMan is the essence of everything I’ve said. For 40 years, I’ve almost said the same thing again and again. I just take different colors, but it’s always the same guy telling basically the same story for me, and DogMan is a really good resume on that.

Luc Besson Compares Caleb Landry Jones to “All the Great Actors”
“He’s not here to impose himself.”
Image via EuropaCorp

Caleb is so good in this role. When did you realize he was the one that you needed to make this film special?

BESSON: After two or three meetings. We had three lunches together. You’re not looking for an actor, you’re looking for a partner. I cannot make this film without a genius. If the guy is not devoted, if he’s not good, I can’t make the show. It’s impossible. And after a few lunches, we talked about life for most of it, and I really like him as a human being. So that was the first point. We have the same view on things, and the same view on the work. We always consider the work as the work of an ant — it’s little pieces by little pieces.

If you have an actor who looks at the schedule and says, “Oh yeah, yeah, I can make the film. I’ll finish the film on the 21st. We can do two weeks here, and…” It’s not the good guy. That was clear from him. He asked for two things: he said, “I need six months,” and he asked me one question — he said, “Will the dogs be a CGI?” I said, “No,” and he said, “Okay.” So I made the film.

What did he bring to the role that was not on the page?

BESSON: What’s interesting with Caleb is he’s very devoted. He makes you talk. He reads the pages, and he wants the director to talk. He wants to understand the vision of the director, and he really tries, almost like a first violin in an orchestra. He tries to read the partition, and he wants to deliver what you want. He’s not here to impose himself. He’s gonna try to find in his own life the tools to help him, but what he wants is to serve you, to serve the director. Every big actor I work with, that’s always their way to work. Always. You work with Gary Oldman, he makes you talk first. He wants you to know, “What do you want?” You work with Dustin Hoffman, same thing. All the great actors work this way. They don’t try to show themselves or to impose themselves; they want to help you with your vision.

I’m fascinated by the editing process because that’s where a film comes together. So, you finish the film, you have your cut that you’re happy with. Who did you show it to for honest feedback, and did you make any changes as a result of feedback from friends and family?

BESSON: Usually, I have an average of, like, five to 10 screenings. The first screening, I take one person, one or two. For me, these people are like bullets. If I shoot one bullet, I don’t have the bullets anymore. So they can watch the film once. When they give me their comments, I go back to the editing and I do another screening with somebody else. And I do that, like, five, six, seven times. When, after that, I’m happy, then I test the film on the screen. We did that in Los Angeles with 400 people just to see their reaction and what they like and what they don’t like. That’s usually the process for me.

Did you go through any big changes on DogMan that surprised you, or was the audience always along for the ride?

BESSON: There’s two big changes. It was not in the notes of the audience, but it’s something that you feel in the room when you’re in it. The people have questions about the doctor because they don’t feel her enough. They need to feel more for her, so I shot two little scenes. I shot two new scenes that I integrated into the movie. Then the ending — I don’t want to kill the ending for the audience, but the last three shots after the cross, that was not in the script and there was none in a shooting and it was not in the editing. But I figured when I showed the movie to everyone, the loop was not finished totally. So I reshot the ending, the last ending, the second ending. I shot that after to make it complete, and it changed everything. I was so surprised to see it. It’s only like five or six shots and it changed the perception of the film entirely.

Image via EuropaCorp

This is one of the reasons why I talk to directors about editing, because I don’t think people realize that literally one shot can make a huge difference in people’s perceptions of a movie.

BESSON: When I started in the movie business, I was like 17 or 18, and there was this old French director, he said to me, “Luc, never forget that it takes two years to make a good movie, and it takes two minutes to fuck it up.” [Laughs]

And that person was 100% right.

‘DogMan’ Had Over 100 Dogs on Set — Only 5 Were Trained

This movie doesn’t work without the dogs, and you have a lot of dogs in a lot of shots. Talk a little bit about what ended up being the shot that was really hard to pull off because you’re working with animals. Even though they’re trained, and trained very well, they’re still animals.

BESSON: There were 124 dogs every day, and only five are trained. So, it was a giant mess every day, but you just have to go with it. Don’t try to fight it. You have to feel the mood and the energy of the day. If, for example, you want them very calm, I’d send them to the park for two hours. I’d give them a double ration for the food, and then after, they’re super calm. Everybody is sleeping. So, if you want a team where they’re more excited, you shoot that at 8 a.m., 9 a.m., and they’re all like puppies and they want to play and they have the energy. It’s like a bunch of kids at a birthday party. You have, like, 100 kids sweating, crying, screaming of happiness, and you just deal with it. You keep an eye on everyone and you go with it. You just go with it.

There’s one, [a] doberman, and this one doesn’t want to shoot with others, so you have to shoot him by himself. If you made just a tiny little noise, he turned his head or his ear. That was kind of hard to make him still and watch the actor, and so I used a lot of tricks. Like, for example, I had this little plastic animal behind my back and I went like this [makes squeaking noises]. When I was looking at the camera and I had a good face, and I wanted him just to have his ear going up — [makes squeaking noises]. You have to understand how they work and then deal with it.

Completely. That explains why he’s always in the hallway alone.

Luc Besson’s ‘June and John’ Was Shot on an iPhone
Image via Shanna Besson/Europacorp

During lockdown, you shot a film called June and John. What’s going on with that, and when will I see it?

BESSON: We’re gonna try to release it this year. I don’t know how. Maybe cinema, maybe the internet. I don’t know. In fact, we were all locked down so I took some of my friends, I took my phone, and we shot for 11 weeks. We made a movie in LA with a young actor, totally unknown, and I was so happy to go back to my 19-year-old [self]. I feel like I was 19 because filming with the phone, it’s so easy. There is no grip, there is nothing. You just can shoot everything. It was an amazing experience that I would love to do again.

Did you shoot it with your iPhone?

BESSON: Yeah.

For people that don’t know, what is it about?

BESSON: It’s a love story.

Luc Besson’s ‘Dracula: A Love Tale’ Set to Wrap Filming This Summer

As you know, I am a fan of your work. What are you thinking about directing this year?

BESSON: I’ve started already. I’m gonna make another movie with Mr. Caleb Landry Jones and Mr. Christoph Waltz — Dracula.

Have you started filming or is that coming up?

BESSON: Yeah.

When did you start filming and when do you wrap?

BESSON: I started a few days ago in Lapland in the north. We’ll probably finish at the end of July.

Dracula has been done a few times. What is it about the material that said, “I wanna make this?”

BESSON: The love story.

What can you tease about your version? Is it close to the book?

BESSON: No. When you read the book, for me the most interesting part is this man who’s gonna wait for centuries and centuries because he wants to see his wife again. So for me, it’s the ultimate love story.

Caleb is a tremendous actor. You mentioned that it took him six months of preparing for DogMan. What was it like for him getting ready for this?

BESSON: The same preparation. You need the Romanian accent so you have to work on that a lot. He has to lose weight, and then prep, like we did with DogMan. The same thing. But he’s not gonna start right now. He’s gonna start in a month.

So you’re shooting with Christoph now?

BESSON: No, not even. We’re shooting everything in the snow.

So is the plan for it to come out next year?

BESSON: Yeah, probably. I don’t know.

I am so fascinated because this is such a different movie for you compared to the other things. Although, you tell a lot of love stories, but this is a different kind of love story.

BESSON: I went from The Fifth Element to Joan of Arc, so I love to go everywhere.

Oh, sir, I am aware. Some of your films have not gotten 4K releases. Do you know what the status is of 4K releases on some of your other films?

BESSON: I’m really sorry because, in fact, I don’t pay attention too much to that because for me there’s people who do that. When I finish a movie, the movie belongs to the people, and then I do another one. So, I don’t know. I was confused the other day because I tried to find a Blu-ray version of The Big Blue in English and I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t believe it. They have only a French one, but I couldn’t find it in English, so I was desperate. [Laughs]

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It’s funny you say that because I was reading online that there’s a few different versions of The Fifth Element on 4K, and apparently some versions are better than others, so I was debating which one I wanted to buy. Then I’m like, “Well, I’m talking to Luc Besson in a few days. I’ll just wait.”

BESSON: I don’t even know that there’s a few different versions. But on the editing, pure editing, there’s only one version of the film.

No, totally. I think that what I’m talking about is some of the 4K versions that have been released, they’ve been released by different companies, and apparently some of the transfers are better than others.

BESSON: I cannot guide you because they never sent me one.

That’s crazy. I mean, absolutely crazy.

Caleb Landry Jones’ Édith Piaf Performance Brought the ‘DogMan’ Crew to Tears

Jumping back into DogMan, there are some great sequences, like the Édith Piaf stuff with Caleb on stage. Can you talk about filming that sequence? Caleb’s work is so good.

BESSON: I think it was the scene he was the most nervous because he doesn’t speak French. So, he had to learn the words of the Édith Piaf songs by heart, and we have a lot of videos about Édith Piaf, the real one, to inspire him. He had a vocal coach and he had a singer, a French girl, who sings Édith Piaf all the time, who helps him. So, he was prepping, prepping, and he was really nervous. What’s interesting is the moment you shoot, it’s everything or nothing. There’s no middle. If you put in the song, he has to sing it. I put five cameras and you have it or you don’t have it. It’s there or it’s not there. So, until the last second I was also nervous to say, “Can you make it good or not?” Because it’s not the kind of thing that you can rehearse. So we rehearsed the dress and the makeup and everything, the gestures, and the first take was just magical. Everybody was crying. We couldn’t believe he gave everything. The only thing he asked me was, he said, “Luc, can you put the playback very loud?” Because he really wanted to sing, and he didn’t want to hear his own voice.

Sure.

BESSON: So you can see the vein of his neck, and he really sings. I was crying like a real fountain. [Laughs] That was a magical moment that you never forget.

Image via Europa Corp

When I was watching it, I could see the saliva coming out and could really see him going for it. That’s the reason I wanted to touch on the sequence, because it’s just such great work.

BESSON: And for this kind of scene, don’t move too much. The camera angles are very simple. It’s all all on him. If you give it, you have to be there. The camera doesn’t move so much.

When you think about the shoot, what sequence ended up being the most challenging to film due to the animals, due to camera moves, due to whatever?

BESSON: The finale with the Mexican, because there is a big fight between the dogs and the Mexican. It’s like 300 shots and it’s very long and very precise. The dog has to pass and jump and think and bite, and so that was really complicated, and the work of an ant every day, every shot, one by one.

DogMan is in select theaters now.

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