Brad Pitt premieres 'Heart of the Beast' in Tennessee | AP interview

They spend it with a dog. They're just funny little f******, aren't they? Well, we got three now, so, you know, our pack is pretty well filled, but we're always tempted. And there's so many dogs that need homes, and there's so many dogs, too many dogs that are put down each year. And I'm sure there'll be a run on German Shepherds, and I hope people go to the rescues, because there are a lot of German Shepherds in your home. What do you like about dogs? What are they important to you? Are you kidding me? Come on! I mean, do they help you through tough times, too? They're just better with a dog. It's that simple. I don't care how grumpy you are, you turn over and they're rolling on their back and doing something silly. They're just funny little f******, aren't they? But more than that, it's the unconditional love, and something we have to learn from. Even when they get in trouble for a minute, and the minute you give them another bit of love, they're so present, you know? They're just so present. What do you learn about yourself working on set with a dog, you know? I don't know. I haven't thought about it in that way. I mean, me, I've had really special moments with my dogs, and it just meant something to me to kind of pay tribute to that. So I was really more hopeful that we could hit those levels. Fifty-eight miles. No one's coming for us. We're just going to have to do this the hard way. Do you think any of your dogs would help you if you were stuck out in the wilderness? One of them would. One of them, maybe. One of them, definitely not. David Ayers says it best, our director. Odin was Uber, who played Odin. He was a prior search-and-rescue dog and since retired, and then pulled out of retirement to become an actor. He was our picture dog, the main dog, and the others were there for, like he had a stunt dog. So he had two others that were there for some of the stunts. And we had to bond with them all, but they were all lovely. It was cool. It was just cool. Like, come on, you get to be out in the woods all day and be with a dog. Okay, we're cold, we're wet, but there are worse ways to spend a day. This is a military town, pretty close to a military base, you know? What does it mean to kind of be portraying that role? Well, I take great responsibility in that. And that's why, I mean, I kind of, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it with David Ayers. Because not only is that part of his backstory, but he has so much respect for the men and women who put their bodies and hearts and souls on the line for us. And I know he's going to get it right, and he's going to make sure we get it right. And at the end of the day, that's most important. It's been amazing! There's dogs everywhere! And they're up for adoption, and you get to introduce yourself to them. I love dogs. I'm an auntie to a dog. So this has been really fun. I've kind of just, I walked in and just started seeing, who can I hang out with? Who can I pet? When I think of working dog, I'm always kind of like, oh, I want to respect their work, and I want to respect their boundaries, and all those sorts of things. So it was figuring out how to work with a dog on set, and what does it mean when they're working, and what does it mean when they're not working. But our animal coordinator was very helpful in helping me understand how to hang out with Uber, and building a little bit of a relationship and chemistry with Uber. So it was really fun. I think dogs are so generous with their love, and they will give as much to you as you give to them, so I just had fun. I'm not going to let you die out here. I think we both were so moved by this script and its beautiful ending, and he was willing to be vulnerable in kind of a new way. We had such a great collaboration on Fury, but this was me, Brad, a camera, and a dog. So there's not a lot of places to hide. It was shot almost some bits like a documentary, where Brad's just going into the woods, and he's doing these things for real. And I'm trying to hide cameras and find ways to feel what he's experiencing. Working with dogs on set is almost like learning a different language. They go through hair and makeup and wardrobe just like every other actor, but how they work and getting the eye lines and what the trainer actually does is really impressive to watch. It is an adventure. It's a tale of survival and battling the elements. I don't want to say man versus nature, because we're all in this together, but bottom line, it's a love story. And greater love hath no man than this, and these two are willing to do anything to help each other survive. We wanted something really hot and sweaty so that we could all be glistening on the red carpet. I think what initially sparked it was that David and Brad put a country song at the end of the movie, and we knew we didn't want to premiere it in New York, L.A., a typical place, since this is a film for the whole country, not just the coast. And the country song plus the outdoor amphitheater you guys have here, it was like, yeah, let's go to Nashville. There aren't very many characters in this movie, so you'd think casting would be easy, but that's obviously what makes it challenging, because they have to carry the whole movie. I think the first decision we had to make is what breed is this dog. So to be authentic, which obviously we cared a lot about, it was going to be a Malinois or a German Shepherd. I pitched Dachshund, because we have Dachshunds, and I thought a little 12-pound Dachshund with Brad Pitt would be perfect. David was like, I don't know if that's the most realistic option. So we went with Shepherd, mostly because we've seen a lot of movies with Malinois, and I don't know if Brad has had German Shepherds, he just really wanted a German Shepherd. So we went with that, and then the hunt for the – it was like an open casting call of New Zealand German Shepherds. We sent Andrew Simpson, our amazing dog trainer, he drove all around the country, and we found a dog with two sons and one daughter, actually. And they were like a little family that all played the same character, kind of like when they have twin babies play one character. But what was cool is that they each did different things. We had the dog that was sort of more emotional, that's probably Uber, and then we had the dog that could just run, Hondo. And so they each had their strengths when they could step in. And similar to working with children, you can't work a dog all day, so you have to have the rest periods, and another dog comes in. I mean, honestly, the dogs were higher maintenance than Brad.