Ben Leonberg enjoys a problem. It’s why, he says, he spent greater than 400 days turning his household house right into a haunted home to movie a horror film together with his household canine, Indy.
Good Boy, a horror-thriller that debuted at SXSW, is informed from the attitude of the loyal household canine, who strikes to a rural household house together with his proprietor Todd, solely to find supernatural forces lurking within the shadows. Not solely that, however Indy is the one one who can really see these evil forces, and he’s exhausting pressed to persuade his proprietor that something is mistaken.
Indy wasn’t born to be an actor. In reality, his fur dad and mom didn’t even suppose he’d ever star in a characteristic movie after they introduced him house. So, when he bought the concept, Leonberg knew it will be fairly a problem to get Indy to cooperate.
“Be mindful the working hours or the time Indy spent on set was our most valuable, valuable useful resource, which actually is set by his consideration span, which, relying on what we’re asking him, is likely to be a couple of minutes, or it’s going to be at tops like three hours,” he defined. “So of all of these days, Indy was solely ever working…being himself on digicam for max three hours the remainder of the time, as a result of we’re doing this for such a protracted length, and since we’ve such a restricted window for the character and actor that’s going to be in each single shot.”
Within the under interview with Deadline, Leonberg reveals extra of the tips he used to make harmless moments together with his pet really feel sinister sufficient for a horror movie.
DEADLINE: So, the movie debuted at SXSW final 12 months, and lots has occurred since. Are you able to give me an replace?
BEN LEONBERG: I imply, a lot has modified, clearly, since then. IFC got here into the image. The film’s gone into the world. Earlier than that, the trailer [and] all the event of how the film was going to be put into the world passed off. I imply, it’s simply been tremendous enjoyable to, on a private stage, have individuals share my very own obsession with my very own canine. In order that’s been fairly neat, too.
DEADLINE: Is that actual footage of Indy as a pet within the film, as properly?
LEONBERG: Yeah, so all of the pet footage, that’s really him and his litter mates when my spouse and I bought him, not pondering he could be in a film. That’s real house motion pictures, I assume you can name it, of him in his first few months simply being a pet, definitely not pondering he could be a film star.
DEADLINE: Are you able to remind me how lengthy it took to truly shoot the film?
LEONBERG: So precise filming, bodily manufacturing, was — we moved in the home in April 2021 after which we have been filming till like the primary day of August 2024. so it was throughout three years. It was over 400 days. The one motive I do know it’s greater than 400 days is that I’ve a log [of] on daily basis we movie, and we might dump the footage, and I misplaced monitor in my very own accounting. So I do know it’s greater than 400, however I don’t have the precise quantity.
‘Good Boy’
Shudder/Everett Assortment
DEADLINE: Yeah, okay, I used to be going to ask extra concerning the logistics right here of filming this on the whims of your loved ones pet?
LEONBERG: I imply, it’s positively not probably the most environment friendly solution to make a film, and one of many largest sensible causes it took so long as it did is that — I say it took 400 days. Be mindful the working hours or the time Indy spent on set was our most valuable, valuable useful resource, which actually is set by his consideration span, which, relying on what we’re asking him, is likely to be a couple of minutes, or it’s going to be at tops like three hours. So of all of these days, Indy was solely ever working…being himself on digicam for max three hours the remainder of the time, as a result of we’re doing this for such a protracted length, and since we’ve such a restricted window for the character and actor that’s going to be in each single shot.
It meant that probably the most environment friendly approach to do that could be for me and my spouse to be your entire solid and crew throughout bodily manufacturing. So along with directing, I used to be additionally establishing the home. The home the place the film takes place can also be the place we lived. We have been establishing rooms that have been a part of our regular lives simply to look the appropriate approach for the film. My spouse, who isn’t a filmmaker earlier than no less than making this movie, is an excellent sport. She allowed me to rework the home, one room at a time, right into a haunted home. So yeah, there’s not a lot regular about this, however I assume by way of the group of the shoot, it’s all lending itself to: How can we get the perfect efficiency out of Indy? The principle useful resource we wanted to do this was time. Every part type of flowed from there.
DEADLINE: I’ve to think about there’s a lot group concerned too with a view to ensure you get all of the photographs you want. Have been you modifying as you went?
LEONBERG: Yeah, I edited as we have been filming, as a result of we have been solely getting a shot or two on daily basis, and due to the variability of what Indy would give us, we continuously needed to choose a shot on, let’s say day one, the place Indy walks into body and freezes, as a result of he hears one thing. The place he stops and freezes, there are eight totally different locations within the eight usable takes. So, the morning of day two I spend choosing what’s the shot we’re going to make use of for now and ceaselessly, after which construct the following shot off that blocking that we simply achieved within the shot that we’re going to make use of now and ceaselessly, as a result of I’ve picked it within the modifying. We have been working off storyboards. I’d drawn, loosely, basically your entire movie sequenced out in illustration. You understand, stick figures and cartoon canine that weren’t tremendous exact, which was good, each as a as a mirrored image of my very own drawing capability however then additionally that flexibility type of allowed us to embrace the variability of what Indy would give us.
DEADLINE: There’s, at occasions, little or no dialogue. You’re additionally telling the story via the eyes of a canine, who inevitably has a extra restricted understanding of the world than a human. With these issues in thoughts, how did you’re employed to maintain the story feeling propulsive?
LEONBERG: There’s a visible storytelling ingredient of simply utilizing his perspective and the perspective of a canine. Typically it’s taking an previous haunted home trope and simply placing it within the perspective of a canine, [that] retains issues fascinating or new. However one other factor I used to be all the time fascinated about after which having conversations with our co-producer, Brian Goodheart, who additionally marshaled your entire post-production sound crew, is how sound was going to play into the ultimate presentation. Brian was each doing all the after dialogue substitute (ADR) of the vocal performances that match into all the things, in addition to changing all the Indy sounds. He additionally ran level on how the music was going to suit into issues. So there was all the time a dialog occurring about how each the visible and the audio a part of the storytelling could be married, and would even be doing, simply as you say, escalating the story, transferring issues ahead and holding issues feeling propulsive, like we’re going to this massive climax within the third act.
DEADLINE: There are a variety of moments the place one thing scary is going on to Indy within the movie, and I presume it was a way more nice expertise for him in actual life. For instance, he will get caught on a fox lure and is freaking out at one level. What have been you really doing to get these photographs?
LEONBERG: I feel these are the issues, which, in some methods, are the toughest, however they’re additionally the elements of the filmmaking that excite me probably the most, and in some methods are probably the most enjoyable, in all probability each for me and Indy. I feel as a filmmaker, the facility of suggestion is de facto thrilling. That basically unlocks one thing. Once I was simply learning how filmmaking labored, and also you’re studying about Hitchcock, how simply via the perspective, the attitude and the juxtaposition of disparate photographs, you may create which means, and we’re doing that on a regular basis all through the movie. So for lots of emotional beats, the place Indy is supposed to look scared, he’s not doing something in actuality on set. He’s simply wanting off digicam at me, in all probability making chook noises at him, in actuality, to get him to look a sure approach and look slightly perplexed, as a result of I’m making chook noises. Then after we used the perspective shot, we confirmed what he’s . There’s a shadow transferring throughout the wall. There’s scary music, and the best way the photographs are sequenced collectively creates the phantasm for the viewers of worry. I, because the filmmaker, am telling the viewers that that is scary, and the viewers tasks that emotion again onto Indy. In order that’s a method we might do issues on these emotional, troubling, scary, intense moments.
Good Boy
IFC
For, the extra bodily, there’s a second he will get caught in a snare that the hunter has put out. So there’s a variety of old skool digicam tips. There’s a variety of issues are being carried out in reverse. We’re capturing issues actually shut up and utilizing a excessive shutter pace, after which including some digicam shake to make it appear actually jarring and visceral. The truth of what’s occurring in that second is that Indy is on his again, ostensibly caught in a snare. There’s not really even a snare round his neck, and I’m simply off digicam scratching his again legs, and he’s type of doing a [does a movement to mimic Indy] completely satisfied canine getting his stomach rubbed. However in the event you movie it with all these different gildings, the excessive shutter pace, the additional digicam shake, after which typically, even in the event you reverse the footage, it simply seems slightly bit extra unnatural. Possibly if he shortly rolls up and also you reverse it, it seems like he’s falling onto his facet. We did stuff like that in every single place, ways in which we discovered, how might we play with Indy after which via the filmmaking give it that further edge.
DEADLINE: I assume most of these are additionally Indy’s vocalizations, simply not possibly at that precise second caught on digicam?
LEONBERG: Precisely. None of them are within the second. So all the audio is changed afterwards. Should you have been to hearken to the movie with the manufacturing audio, which means what was recorded because the digicam was rolling, it will virtually all be me and my spouse speaking to Indy, telling him ‘Good boy. Whoa. Keep, keep. Good boy.’ Then chook noises, humorous sounds, phrases he doesn’t know to get him to appear like he’s making an attempt to determine what’s occurring. So the vocalizations, I feel virtually all got here from Indy, however they’re from separate moments. We’d exit and we might have recording classes the place we knew he would make sounds. A number of it’s him taking part in fetch. He actually loves fetch, and also you get a variety of excited panting, yips and barks that.
Should you isolate a yip that he lets out when he goes to retrieve a ball, and also you’re a put up manufacturing sound wizard, which, thankfully, we had in our roster, you may take that sound, bend it, make it sound like no matter you need it to. So we have been including all that stuff after the very fact. The one canine noise I do know we couldn’t get from Indy that we then bought from a library have been all of the sniffs. There’s numerous sniffs within the film, and I simply couldn’t, for the lifetime of me, work out a solution to get Indy to odor a microphone with out batting himself towards it and ruining the audio. There have been a couple of occasions too. I imply, there’s tons. Each shot was an journey [and] took some stage of drawback fixing that I didn’t count on. He did run into the digicam a number of occasions, as soon as so exhausting he was positive, however the digicam — we have been underneath the mattress, filming collectively, and he runs into the digicam and knocks it proper into my face. The one damage on set was Indy damage me.
DEADLINE: What was probably the most tough factor to get Indy to do?
LEONBERG: Primarily, it’s maintain nonetheless. The toughest factor would have been the simplest factor for a human actor. On the finish of the film, there’s this dramatic interchange of seems and shut ups between Todd, who I’m standing in for simply wanting into his eyes. He’s wanting into mine. To get these photographs, I simply wanted very exact shut ups the place there’s a shallow depth of subject. I simply want him to carry nonetheless and take a look at one factor for like eight uninterrupted seconds. I imagine, we went again and checked, it took us three days to get that. On Monday, we tried and like, it was like, ‘Nicely, possibly if we maintain a chunk of meals off digicam,’ however then, no, he’s too excited. So he needs to take it. We tried for the hour of his consideration span.
At a sure level, as I discussed, his consideration spans are most necessary useful resource. When it’s gone, it’s like making an attempt to get slightly child who’s overtired to do one thing. You simply must cease. So we strive once more on Tuesday, and I neglect what we did the second day. I feel we simply used verbal instructions to attempt to get him to remain after which take a look at my face. Then I feel on the third day, we used a barely totally different meals that he wasn’t as enthusiastic about, however he nonetheless wished. So it was three days of filming to get these shut ups on the finish of the movie, which I feel completely make that finale work. So it’s positively value it. Yeah, that was very difficult.
DEADLINE: Have been there any tips you wanted to show him or did you attempt to rely totally on instructions he already knew?
LEONBERG: It wasn’t a lot instructing him tips or instructions. I’d say he’s desirous to please. He’s very clever, and he is aware of sit, keep, down, stand. Getting him to maneuver from level A to level B, both beginning sitting, standing or laying down, and ending sitting, standing or laying down, that’s virtually the extent of his tips. That’s solely so helpful, as a result of a lot of the movie isn’t motion or motion. It’s sort of what’s he seeing. So it was discovering new stimuli to immediate him with and new methods to have interaction his pure curiosity. So I discussed chook noises. My spouse and I assumed, after we began making the film, ‘That is going to be straightforward, as a result of we’re going to start out quacking…if we quack like geese, he’ll look over at us.’ However then after every week of filming, he’s like, ‘The quack doesn’t really imply something.’ So then we began whistling, after which after every week, it’s just like the whistle doesn’t imply something. Possibly we are able to say a phrase to him. There’s a tone wherein you communicate to a canine, wherein you say ‘sit,’ and if, as an alternative of the phrase ‘sit,’ you say ‘pizza field,’ the canine will take a look at you, in the event you want him to look in a sure path. So we needed to continually evolve a rolodex of instructions and new stimuli to offer him to maintain that pure curiosity, which is powering a lot of that perspective, curiosity-based filmmaking.
Good Boy
IFC Movies
DEADLINE: Now you simply have an enormous swath of issues you may say to him to get his consideration.
LEONBERG: So, a enjoyable factor he did study that was extra like a trick, is, I don’t know in the event you’ve ever been on set, however after a shot is accomplished, an AD will continuously say, if we wish to reset and do one other take, they’ll say, ‘Okay, everyone again to at least one’ as in again to first positions. And I’d say that simply type of as a joke, only for me and my spouse, like, ‘Okay, Indy, good job, again to at least one.’ In some way he type of progressively got here to grasp that if we have been doing one thing repeated, particularly if there was motion concerned, he did study the command ‘again to at least one,’ if there was a mark. As a result of he we did educate him ‘place,’ which is, ‘get on this factor’ or ‘stand right here.’ He would perceive ‘place’ was like, ‘go to that spot.’ He realized to equate ‘place’ with ‘again to at least one.’ So, he did study slightly little bit of movie set lingo.
DEADLINE: My final query for you is simply what’s thrilling you concerning the future?
LEONBERG: Yeah, I imply, I’m very excited to make a movie that doesn’t star a canine. I’ve very a lot loved this. It was a tremendous household venture, and I’m definitely going to proceed to discover perspective and perspective as one thing that basically powers a movie in a really literal sense. However, I even have one other movie, aiming to movie in early 2026, that’s not animal associated, nevertheless it’s in the identical horror-thriller area. So I’m sure I’ll maintain working in horror and thriller. It’s the style I’m most excited and captivated with, and definitely the one I devour probably the most as an viewers member. I additionally are likely to get pleasure from these problem motion pictures, issues that appear like ‘That’s a cool, relatable concept, however how would that ever work?’ Like, ‘How would you make a film fully with the canine?’ So, maintain persevering with to press issues there may be certainly one of my missions.
