YOUNGER movie fans might not remember that before Tom Hanks starred in some of the biggest dramatic blockbusters of the last couple decades, he had a laugh-filled career in comedies in the 1980s.
After some time on the sitcom ‘Bosom Buddies’ he had a successful run on film comedies, including classics such as ‘Big’ and ‘Splash’. Among those hits came his role as detective Scott Turner alongside ‘Beasly’ the dog, his co-star in the action-comedy ‘Turner & Hootch’.
Fast forward more than three decades later, and the story now follows an ambitious, buttoned-up US Marshal inheriting a big unruly dog, who realises the partner he did not want may be the best sidekick he needs.
Josh Peck stars as Scott Turner, the son of the original lead character portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 1989 film, who also goes by the same name. The storyline picks up with Turner Jr adjusting to his new untrained paw partner, while having to manage the havoc of his personal life and professional career.
We recently caught up with Peck and his fellow castmates during a media roundtable to share more on what it was like on set and highlights audiences can expect from the original series (produced by 20th Television), when it premiered locally on Disney+ Hotstar on July 21st.
Paw pal(s)
Highlighting the on-set experience and having dogs as co-actors, Peck notes, “Whatever for me as an actor personally, whenever something can kind of disrupt my [acting] plans and force me in the moment to be spontaneous is a gift”.
“I remember my audition specifically when I went to test for the show. They said, ‘OK, you're going to have five scenes and the show creators are actually going to bring a real dog’”.
“It wasn't actually ‘Hootch’ at the time but similar. I was also told to do a lot of improvisations because the creators know that when working with dogs, things are bound to go off-script or as precise.
“Having the experience of working with them on set, you will eventually get close to work around what the dog wants to do for a particular scene,” he added.
“I'm obsessed with dogs. So, it was like a dream job for me,” gleefully expressed actress Becca Tobin, responding to the same question.
“Walking onto my first day on set (for episode three), I sort of missed all the introductions to the dogs. I was sort of thrown in the deep end, if you will, and was not prepared for the amount of drooling happening,” she said.
Tobin took on the role of ‘Brooke’, Scott Turner’s ex-girlfriend, who works closely with the US Marshall on his case as a prosecutor.
“I kept noticing like between every take the trainer would come up with a towel, so there were fun surprises like that.
“Working with dogs just brings so much levity to the moment, given that we were shooting within the pandemic.
“There were all these protocols and everyone's taking that very seriously but having these dogs on set was just like this wonderful escape and energy to have around,” added Tobin.
New love blooms?
“There is a romantic comedy aspect to our show, and you can tell when my character in the first episode sees Josh for the first time,” shared Vanessa Lengies who plays ‘Erica’, the quirky head of the US Marshals dog training program.
“I think my character's experience is very much like my own, and I'm sure everyone else who is going to watch the show. She just gets lost in her feelings for him and then has to pretend to be cool for pretty much the rest of the series.
“Erica is there to kind of gently encourage Scott to see the gift that is this giant slobbering dog. On top of that, she kind of sees what he cannot see before he eventually sees it.
“We know she has a huge crush on him, but she is also there to kind of nudge him into surrendering to accepting Hootch,” explained Lengies.
“Scott's pretty hopeless when it comes to seeing that Erica is smitten with him,” added Peck.
“He is lost in his own sort of web of adorable, self-centredness for many of these episodes but what's cool about all the characters on the show – specifically ones played by Becca and Vanessa – is that they are not just simply one note.
“It’s a beautiful mix of like all these incredible traits while also having some (character) defects as human beings in general.
“Erica is like this savant genius when it comes to the smallest nuance of dogs and their behaviours on one end, which offers tremendously in Scott’s investigation, and adorable at helplessly navigating love on the other,” he added.
Talented bunch
The series also stars Carra Patterson as ‘Jessica Baxter’, Scott’s brave, street-smart partner; Brandon Jay McLaren as ‘Xavier Wilson’, a cool, enigmatic marine-turned-US Marshal; Anthony Ruivivar as ‘Chief James Mendez’, Scott’s boss with a secret soft spot for Scott’s new dog; Lyndsy Fonseca as ‘Laura Turner’, Scott’s sweet, animal-loving sister; Jeremy Maguire as ‘Matthew Garland’, Laura’s dog-loving son; and a total of five French Mastiffs as ‘Hootch’, Scott’s slobbery, loveable partner.
“Working on a comedy, I mean, it's so much fun. Who would not love to be able to go to work and just try to make jokes, like, all day long,” shared Ruivivar.
“I've done a lot of dramas prior to this, and it was just so refreshing and so much fun. Some of the crazy unscripted stuff – in the pilot episode I find myself, you know, having one of those actor moments where you are like, ‘what is happening right now’, where I am there on camera trying to deliver a speech and you have a person underneath you with the fake dog paws.
“There were so many moments like that throughout the filming that I'll never forget,” he added.
“There was this one moment where I was driving and Hootch was in the back during the scene and then started to lick my ear like, and I was like, ‘What is that?’ It wasn't scripted,” highlighted McLaren.
“I also have to give a lot of credit to our creators/producers. They let us basically do whatever we wanted and would always give us a couple of takes where they would just be like, say whatever comes to mind – if it worked and if it was funny, kept it”.
Talking specifically about the relationship her character has with Peck’s character, Fonseca credited the writers for the storytelling, “… who were so great in expanding the brother-sister relationship”.
“When these characters were first introduced, Josh had spent so long and hard to portray a good marshal.
“My character ‘Laura’ has a young child and has just been through a divorce. She is working on her veterinarian exam and is just overwhelmed, overworked, and exhausted.
“As a parent myself, I can understand the experience where you lose yourself and you feel a little bit like you are floundering around.
“I do think in the pilot, you see that there's that sibling dynamic that is strong, but also living separate lives,” shared Fonseca.
“Having to pursue the case of what happened to their father and suspecting something fishy behind his death not only gives the Turners a purpose, but it also gives them something to bond together”.
“Most of my scenes are with Lyndsy, and she makes it so easy to work together with, she is so sweet,” said Maguire, who is separately known for his role as ‘Joe Prichett’ on famed comedy-series ‘Modern family’.
“I loved working with everyone, and how they were so welcoming when we all came in. It's awesome!”
On the kind of audience he thinks would love the show, he said: “Probably people who don't spend enough time with their family because they can sit down together, have laughs over it and a new love for animals”. – The Vibes, July 22, 2021
Check out the official trailer of the Disney+ original series ‘Turner & Hootch’ below…
