Anyone who's seen the movie "As Good as it Gets" will remember Verdell, Simon's finicky pooch!! This site is dedicated to that memorable canine actor. Enjoy.
The script called for a Brussels Griffon, a rare European breed, to play the part of Verdell. Director
James Brooks even thought of calling the movie "A Dog's Story."
Brooks also thought of calling the Old Friends, Rock Bottom, and
The Bright Side of Life.
Starting in April 97, it took two
weeks of searching the US and Europe to find the six dogs who eventually played Verdell. Their
names? Timer, Sprout, Debbie, Billy, Parfait and Jill. Jill (from Texas, woohoo!) was the last dog
found, and the one who was used the most.
Apparently, no one had ever worked with the breed before, so animal coordinator Gary Gero and
trainers Roger Schumacher and Ray Beal had their work cut out for them. Luckily, they found them
"very intelligent, and very trainable" according to the movie's director, James Brooks. Even so, it
took 15 weeks of training, 6 days a week, to be ready to shoot. Roger Schumacher, who had just
also worked on 101 Dalmations, said filming As Good As It Gets was even more
difficult.
Greg Kinnear said "[Jill] is the ultimate star of the film." According to Brooks, she was exceptionally intelligent for her breed. She certainly had to do a lot to deserve this praise- during the course of the movie, she gets thrown down a garbage shute, and changes Melvin Udall's life, while depressing her owner, Simon. She has to pretend to like Jack Nicholson more than bacon bits, which is pretty amazing. I mean, would you rather go for food, or for an attractive member of another species? Just kidding.
But everyone's work paid off- with 3 Golden Globes and 2 Academy Awards, director James Brooks said, "I'm just flying." (AGAIG won best actor, actress and film for a comedy or musical, and best actor and actress for the Academy Awards.) Jill was probably pretty happy too- after the awards ceremony, she accompanied Brooks to a post-Oscar party at Chasen's, where she ate lamb. Yum, yum.
