Captain Marvel (2019)

Throughout the film, the main character has a pet cat, who is seen performing such mild action as sitting/standing/lying, being held or petted, and walking/running on or off leash. For all of these scenes, trainers used hand signals and verbal commands to cue the mild action, which the trained dog was accustomed to performing. The barking/growling was also a trained behavior.

In the scene when the two actors walk down the hallway passing offices and the cat approaches and the male actor pets him, the cats were transported to the set by their trainers. There was a cat rehearsal where elements of the scene were added one-by-one. Additionally, the cat’s trainer used a clicker to get the cat to move from point A to point B. After the scene, the cat was rewarded with treats.

When the actress is on the phone, and the cat lies at her feet, on action, while the actress was on the phone, the trainer cued the cat to walk over and “lie down” on command. The actress and the cat were also well acquainted prior to filming.

In the scene where the actors sit in the jet and the cat sits in the lap of the actor playing Fury, the actor and the cat were acquainted with each other prior to filming. The set was secure and checked for all safety measures. To get the cat to achieve certain “looks” and actions, they used a stick to get the cat to look at the camera. They also placed a little bit of butter on the cat’s paw to get him to lick it off.

When we see the actor pick up the cat by the scruff of the neck, the actor actually picked up a fake cat, and the rest was accomplished in post using CGI.

In the scene where the actress holds the cat and another actor uses a scanner on the cat, the trainer placed the cat into the actress’ arms when the camera was rolling. She supported the cat under the body with her arm. The alien actor moved his arm from the head of the cat to the tail, using a fake scanner tool, which had a green light he beamed down the cat. An actor then placed a small mask on the cat. The mask was tested before filming and was perfectly safe and created for the cat to breath easily. The actress crossed the camera carrying the cat wearing the mask and handed the cat to trainer tucked down out of frame. The cat took the mask off and rewarded him.

In the scene where the actors walk down the corridor with a cat in a carrier and the cat jumps out of it once a fight starts, prior to shooting the scene a stuntman held the carrier with lights. The trainer placed the mask on the cat then put him in the carrier. On action, when the actors started to play fight, the trainer called the cat with a buzzer. The cat jumped out of the crate, a foot from the ground. The trainer immediately caught the cat, took off his mask and placed him in a crate.

In the scene where Fury holds the cat, who suddenly becomes a monster with tentacles that kills soldiers, then Fury drops him on the ground, this scene was accomplished in several takes. First, the trainers brought the cats in crates from holding to set. Before action, the trainer took the cat out of the crate and placed him in the actor’s hands.

At director’s cue, the cat was asked by trainer to look in specific directions- left, right, down towards the ground. Trainers shakes a feather toy in the direction of where the cat should look. Then the trainers set up a blanket on the ground where the cat will be dropped. On action, the actor released the cat he was holding. The rest of the scene was accomplished in post using CGI.

Whenever the cat is picked up by the nape of his neck, the actors used CGI.

When the actor picks up the cat and he scratches his face, the cats were brought to set in their transport by trainers. One trainer picked up the cat, while the other trainer used the clicker to get the cat to scratch at his face. They did this by using a feathered cat toy on a stick near the trainer’s left temple which elicited a swipe of his paw. They did this several times, rewarding the cat with treats after each swipe.