Brad Pitt knew he wanted to investigate Heart of the Beast before there was a wilderness shoot, a plane crash or a German Shepherd waiting for him on set. The reaction came at home, after he reached the end of Cameron Alexander’s screenplay.
Pitt said the story left him “a little choked up,” enough that he slipped outside so nobody would see him getting emotional. He sat on the porch and had what he described as a “silent weep,” telling Entertainment Weekly that the response convinced him the material was worth pursuing.
Pitt plays James Belmont, a Special Forces veteran whose flight goes down in the Alaskan wilderness, leaving him stranded with Odin, his retired combat dog. Cut off from help, the two must survive the terrain and find their way home together.
For much of the film, Pitt’s most important scene partner was not another movie star. Odin is played primarily by Uber, a German Shepherd who had already completed one professional career as a search-and-rescue dog before filmmakers pulled him out of retirement for another.
Pitt Found Something Personal in James and Odin
Pitt said one of the questions he asks before taking a role is what he can personally contribute to it. Alexander’s screenplay gave him an answer in the relationship between James and Odin, two veterans whose experiences before the crash shape how they depend on each other in the wilderness.
David Ayer connected with the screenplay through his own experiences with grief. The director told The Credits that he began crying while reading it and had to put the script down before continuing. Ayer, who lost his father when he was young, said the story reflected both his grief and his desire for a bond like the one between James and Odin.
In Paramount’s behind-the-scenes feature, Pitt described James and Odin as two damaged veterans whose experiences allow them to understand each other in ways the people around them may not.
Uber Had Already Had a Career Before Hollywood
Animal coordinator Andrew Simpson found Uber in New Zealand after searching across the country for a dog capable of handling the emotional and physical demands of the role. The German Shepherd had previously worked in search and rescue and was already accustomed to helicopters, boats and other demanding environments.
Ayer told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Pitt arrived in New Zealand early and began working with the dogs while learning Uber’s personality. An on-camera chemistry test helped convince the production that Pitt and Uber could carry the relationship at the center of the movie.
Simpson told GQ that the production had only three weeks for Pitt and the dogs to become comfortable together. Pitt would sit inside Uber’s kennel while handling emails and calls, allowing the dog to become accustomed to his presence before they began working through commands and scene choreography.
Uber handled the close-ups and much of the emotional work, while other dogs were better suited to specialized sequences involving running, swimming or heights. Simpson said Pitt also pushed for the canine performer to receive top billing on the call sheet, a distinction normally associated with a production’s leading human actor.
Pitt has owned dogs throughout much of his life and told EW that those relationships made the movie feel like an ode to what dogs had given him personally. Working so closely with Uber also gave him another job on set, with Pitt joking that he effectively became an actor and dog trainer at the same time.
The Nine-Week Shoot Did Not Give Them Much Room to Ease In
The simplicity of the story did not translate into an easy production. Ayer called Heart of the Beast the most difficult project he had directed, while Pitt remembered spending long days outdoors and far from ordinary comforts before returning the next morning to do it again.
The production had roughly nine weeks to capture the film. Rain, mud, steep terrain and cold became recurring obstacles, and Ayer said the schedule could require an intense emotional performance from Pitt one day and a physically difficult sequence the next.
One of the most complicated setups put Pitt inside a submerged aircraft. Ayer said Pitt had to hold his breath, swim down to the plane, get into position, perform the scene underwater and return to the surface. Work like that would ordinarily involve a stunt double, but Ayer said Pitt performed the underwater material himself.
Filming took place in New Zealand, with its remote landscapes standing in for the Alaskan wilderness. J.K. Simmons and Anna Lambe join Pitt in supporting roles, while Uber appears alongside him as Odin for much of the film.
Four Dogs Combined to Play Odin
Odin’s performance required more than one canine actor. The Associated Press reported that four dogs contributed to the role, with Uber serving as the principal performer.
Ayer told The Credits that Uber was joined by three of his sons, with individual dogs selected according to what each scene required. Younger dogs handled specialized physical work, while Uber’s expressions and experience made him particularly valuable for the character’s quieter moments.
That division allowed Odin to function as more than a dog following Pitt through the wilderness. The character has his own military history and carries the effects of that past alongside James, making their dependence on each other part of the film’s survival story.
Heart of the Beast, directed by Ayer from Alexander’s screenplay, opened in theaters on Sept. 25. Paramount Pictures describes the journey through the wilderness as a test of the bond that carried James and Odin through war before they ever faced the crash.