‘Strays’ Director Chooses Real Dogs Over CGI for 95% of the Film

Director Josh Greenbaum used real dogs for 95% of the filming in ‘Strays,’ avoiding CGI. Making talking animal movies used to be easy—recording voices, and creating characters. But now, CGI can make animals too human-like, almost like animated characters instead.

Josh Greenbaum Prioritizes Real Dogs in ‘Strays’ Film Production

Greenbaum used real dogs for most of ‘Strays,’ as he told Collider’s Steve Weintraub. About 95% of the movie features actual dogs, with computer-generated effects used only when safety or comedy is required. Greenbaum prioritized authenticity, saying, “I wanted to make sure you felt you were watching real dogs,” even though they were given talking voices.

Greenbaum said, “We kind of shot it all without the voices, which is interesting. I also would say 95% of what you just watched is all real dogs, which was really important to me.” Greenbaum added, “Obviously, any time it was unsafe for a dog to do anything, it was like, “Alright, we’re gonna go full CG,” but for me, I really wanted to make sure at the start that you just felt that you were watching real dogs. Obviously, we had to have them talking since we were unable to train the dogs to talk, but I thought about it, and we could’ve gone full CG.”

Challenges of Casting Dogs for ‘Strays’: Insights from the Trainer Mark Forbes

According to ‘Strays’ animal trainer Mark Forbes (who previously worked on everything from the 1996 live-action version of “101 Dalmations” to the 2018 remake of “Benji”) in a Variety interview, getting four dogs to walk in a line was unexpectedly tough due to their competitive nature. Forbes said, “The casting process on a film like this is one of the hardest things in the whole film.” Forbes added, “We had four main characters that we’re all trying to find, not only the right look for that character, but how does that character look in a frame next to this other character? And they really liked this idea of [Reggie, a border terrier] being somewhat smaller and having this giant [Great Dane] Hunter, and the other two dogs [Bug, a Boston terrier, and Maggie, an Australian shepherd] were somewhere in between.”

According to the film’s plot:

When Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte; The Last Man on Earth, Nebraska), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose.

But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is.

Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals—Maggie (Isla Fisher; Now You See Me, Wedding Crashers), a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter (Randall Park; Always Be My Maybe, Aquaman), an anxious Great Dane who’s stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal—together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home … and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It’s not his foot).

The cast of ‘Strays’ includes Will Forte as Doug, Brett Gelman as Willy, Greta Lee as Brenda, Dan Perrault as Dr. Hagen, and Dennis Quaid as himself. The voice actors consist of Will Ferrell as Reggie, Jamie Foxx as Bug, Isla Fisher as Maggie, Randall Park as Hunter, Rob Riggle as Rolf, Sofía Vergara as Deliliah, Jamie Demetriou as Chester, Josh Gad as Gus, Jimmy Tatro as Finn, Jack De Sanz as Munchkin, Harvey Guillén as Shitstain, David Herman as the underbite pound dog, and Phil Morris as Bubsy.

“Strays” premiered in the United States on August 18, 2023, distributed by Universal Pictures. The movie grossed $3.43 million on its opening day and $8.3 million during its opening weekend at the domestic box office.