Five clever Canadian cats are set to appear in the upcoming ‘Pet Sematary’ horror movie, the latest screen adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.
The felines were trained by Melissa Millet in London, Ont., and will share the role of a single cat.
Millett is known for her Ultimutts stunt dog show, but her reputation for working with cats caught the attention of a movie industry animal co-ordinator.
"The cats performed significantly better than anyone thought they were going to,” Millett told CTV News London.
“We got huge praise, huge kudos because the cats had no fear. They were working, they were happy. And they did every single thing that was asked of them.”
All the cats were trained in London and three Londoners from Millett’s team also worked on the movie, which was partially filmed in Montreal.
All of cats are rescues and Millet said she loves tapping into their energy.
During 10 weeks of filming in Montreal, Millett worked in close proximity to the actors. Her first scene was with John Lithgow and Millett admitted to nerves.
“I think it must have been on my face,” she said.
"He is just a wonderful man. He squeezed my hand."
After filming wrapped up, two of the cats remained with the movie’s animal co-ordinator, two have gone to Millett’s friends and the fifth -- named Tonic -- has found a place in the Ultimutts show.
"I do extreme tricks, which makes working fun, because cats don't work unless it's fun and they're not afraid,” she said.
“And that just became a recipe for being a good cat trainer.”
With a report from CTV London’s Gerry Dewan
