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A Canine Fashion Statement from Jamie Lee Curtis of Beverly Hills Chihuahua
 Disney
has had a long history of making people laugh
and feel good by casting animals in lead roles
whether they were animated or live action. Aside
from the traditional favorites of Mickey, Donald,
and Goofy, Disney also gave fans The Shaggy Dog
and The Shaggy D.A., Benji, and most recently
the Air Bud and Buddies series of films. Keeping
the tradition of giving fans canine comedy through
the voice of some of Hollywood's most notable
names, Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua, about
an ultra pampered Paris Hilton type pet that gets
"dognapped" in Mexico while on vaction with its
owner, lands on DVD where fans can take their
own adventure with Jamie Lee Curtis and voice
actors Drew Barrymore, Piper Perabo, George Lopez
and Andy Garcia.
With Beverly Hills Chihuahua about to go to the DVD dog house on March 3, the folks at Disney shot us over the latest interview with actress Jamie Lee Curtis who leaves her high society Chihuahua south of the border in director Raja Gosnell's canine comedy.
One of the funniest things
for me was the kids who saw the movie laughing
... at you when you were talking on the phone.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: When they were talking on the phone. I know.
Yeah. You knew that scene
was going to be ...
 JAMIE LEE CURTIS:
I did. My son laughed and that was to get a
laugh out of him. Adults do weird things with
pets ... uh... and children. You know, Auntie
Viv, the character in Beverly Hills Chihuahua
is really over-the-top about her little dog.
She doesn't have children. She's not married.
So, everything, all the heart that she has,
all of the privilege she has, she pours into
this little dog. They needed somebody to start
the movie off as a very real beginning, but
also as kind of over-the-top dog lover and they
found her.
What about you with your
dogs? You have dogs.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: I'm a disciplinarian. I'm the tough love pet owner. I believe in very well-behaved animals, but I'm not anywhere near Viv's level of ...
Spoiling.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: ... excess, let's just say.
Yes, she is a little
excessive. These salons that, at the beginning
of the movie, you take her to ...
JAMIE LEE CURTIS:The pet salons.
Do they really
have a seaweed wrap for dogs?
 JAMIE LEE CURTIS:
I think that they probably have every beauty
treatment that you could get for a dog. I'm
sure there are treadmills and fat farms for
dogs and I'm sure dogs get liposuction and Botox.
I joked with the purveyor of the salon by saying
"No waxing." Made me laugh. I'm sure they get
waxed. I'm sure there are all sorts of beauty
treatments for dogs.
In the movie your character
also has a full schedule, a calendar. I wonder
if people do that with their dogs. Like you
say, there's some ...
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: Oh, where you go to here and there. I think, yes. No, no, the dog calendar.
The dog calendar.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: I do believe it's like a child. You know, we over-schedule our children. Viv over-schedules her pet. I'm sure they go to the beach once a week, so she can get a little of the salt water. It's very good for the skin. But, you know, immediately she goes to the groomer to get the salt taken out. I'm sure there are play dates and movie dates and ...
Other dates.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: Dog dates.
You know, I didn't realize
that the dogs in the movie were from rescue
shelters.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: Not all of them. Papi is a rescue and he's the breakout star of the movie.
That dispels the saying
"that you can't teach an old dog new tricks"
because you have to. They had to train her.
He did a great job as a dog actor.
 JAMIE LEE CURTIS:
The dog actors and the relationship they have
with their trainers is one of the most beautiful
things I've ever watched happen in front of
me. I've worked with kids before ... and that
is very difficult for me. It's tough to work
with child actors.
How so?
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: It's an adult world and you're asking a child to perform like an adult. An animal, it's different and I didn't really know what to expect. Then I watched the relationship between Chloe, my little dog in the movie, and Mike Alexander, her trainer. And it was beautiful. It was beautiful. When Chloe was tired, Mike would say, "You know what, everybody? We need to take a break. Chloe's really tired." Or Angel. Her name is Angel.
You know, it was very clear this relationship they have is built on years and hours and hours and hours of work. This is not 'you only get food if you do the right thing'. It's really a beautiful trust relationship and the way that they pattern a dog to learn how to hit a mark. It's beautiful to watch. It's beautiful. And I had great respect for it and the fact that a lot of the dogs in the movie are rescue dogs.
About old dogs, new tricks. I'm an old dog and you can teach me a lot of new tricks. So, I'm not so sure about that. I think that's just an old adage that isn't really appropriate. But it also shows how a dog, a rescue dog, can end up ... Look at the life Papi's having now.
Really?
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: Look at this beautiful life. And often what happens in the dog's world, which I've learned, it's interesting. It's not unlike the movies for human actors. Once a dog stars in a movie, they don't work very much anymore, because people go, "Oh, that's the dog from Beverly Hills Chihuahua." And so it's kind of heartbreaking, because, in a way, Papi should have his own T.V. show. And honestly, Papi probably won't work that much anymore, because Papi was in Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
Do you think he's typecast?
Is that what it [is]?
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: That's it. It's typecasting. You know, she's going to be typecast as the white, pampered Chihuahua and he's going to be typecast as the rough and tumble landscaping Chihuahua.
The heart of this movie
is, them, your dog, Chloe, and the convergence
of two cultures, which is kind of cute.
 JAMIE LEE CURTIS:
Well, that was the whole intent of the movie.
The way I like to describe the movie is "Don't
judge a book by its cover." Remember that a
lot of us are what we're taught. Once we get
out into a kind of an open world, we really
do learn about ourselves and for me it's a lesson
in discovering yourself, discovering your inner
resources and then literally, in the movie,
finding your voice, in her case, finding her
bark. It's about self discovery and you have
these two cultures which, there's a lot in the
news. There's a lot in politics about immigration,
about borders. And here you have...you're dispelling
a lot of assumptions with this lovely movie
about dogs.
It happens in the human
characters, too. Piper's character.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: Of course.
It's actually a correlation,
the dogs and the people. Is that right?
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: They sort of match the storytelling. And even Auntie Viv ... although, she will always remain someone kind of "out there a little bit" It's just a great movie. It has everything a family film should have. It's got romance. It's got a lot of humor. A little action, but nothing so overwhelming that kids are going to be, like, oh. It's got action. It's got some suspense. But heart. Filled with corazón. You know, little Papi keeps saying, "Mi corazón! Mi corazón!" And, you know, the movie is all about heart.
You like to engage children
though, you write. That's your thing.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: I write books for children. I have a new book called "Big Words for Little People". It's my eighth book for children. It just came out. That's why I'm hawking it on national television. But I'm proud of it. It's a beautiful book about language. It's a book about words and ideas and words like "consequence" and "appropriate" and "inappropriate" and words that I think four-year-olds and five-year-olds and six year-olds can learn. And I love children. Obviously, I love children. I am a child, really. Hidden away behind my nice black dress, I'm still a little girl and so I think I have a special affinity to children.
You do and children,
obviously with you, too. They respond to you
on screen. That was probably, I'm assuming,
what appealed to you about this movie. You have
a choice, you could do an action movie. You
could do whatever you want.
 JAMIE LEE CURTIS:
I got a call from Raja Gosnell, the director
of the movie, explaining the story of the movie
and that he needed Auntie Viv. [She] said, "I
need somebody to be Auntie Viv. I need someone
who kids can trust and will recognize, but then
will see her great enthusiasm and love for this
little dog. We have to see somebody pamper and
spoil this dog, but it's not a cartoon character,
it's a real woman. And we would like you to
be her." And I said, "Thank you for the invitation.
I would love to come." I mean, it's like that
thing where you're sitting at home going, "No
one's inviting me to a tea party." You know,
someone calls you and says, "I'm having a lovely
tea party. It's going to have a lot of dogs.
We're going to Mexico. Would you like to come
over?" "Yes. Thank you for the invitation. I
would love to attend."
And you like fun?
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: I'm all about fun. I'm fun with a capital "F".
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