Sophia Michaels
“Strays” tells the story of a dog named Reggie who decides to get revenge on his owner after being abandoned. He meets three other stray dogs named Hunter, Maggie, and Bug, and together they all decide to travel back to Reggie’s home in order to finish the job.
“Strays” isn’t an animated movie, though — it uses real dogs as its lead actors, but the dogs all speak English in the film and are voiced by some major stars. Will Ferrell voices a border terrier named Reggie, Jamie Foxx portrays a Boston terrier named Bug, Isla Fisher voices an Australian shepherd named Maggie, and Randall Park plays a Great Dane named Hunter. Meanwhile, Will Forte plays Reggie’s abusive owner and one of the movie’s only human stars.
The dogs themselves were carefully selected. “There was a lot of discussion about what breeds the dogs were and which breeds would play well off of each other,” producer Chris Miller told Entertainment Weekly on Aug. 15. “Everybody had their own [input] and was like, ‘Well, my dog is this.'”
Of course, the “Strays” set was an extremely atypical one due to the fact that all of its stars were dogs. “It’s a very surreal and quiet set because there’s not a lot of improv,” Miller added. “It’s just like: ‘Let’s get these cute little muffins to get to the spots where they’re supposed to be.'”
“Strays” is also unusual as far as dog movies go because it includes a lot of explicit content. Apparently, Ferrell actually consulted his son Axel about whether he’d want to see his dad in an R-rated movie about talking dogs before agreeing to the part. “He was asking his youngest, who probably was 13 at the time, 12 or 13, ‘Hey Axel, would you want to see me in an R-rated talking-dog movie, where the mission for me, along with my other stray dog friends, is bite my owner’s d*ck off?'” director Josh Greenbaum told Collider in February. “And Axel was like, ‘One thousand percent, yes, do the movie immediately.’ And so Will, I think half-jokingly, credits his son with green-lighting him getting involved.”
“Strays” hits theaters on Aug. 18. Ahead, check out the human stars of “Strays” next to their canine counterparts.
