POP-Corn: Checking Into Hotel for Dogs
Tasty tidbits on your celebrity faves
Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin star in Hotel for Dogs. (Photo: Jamie Trueblood/Paramount Pictures)
Pups get the VIP treatment in the new comedy Hotel For Dogs. Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin star as sibling foster kids who rescue dogs and hide them in an abandoned hotel with the help of their friends (Kyla Pratt, Johnny Simmons).
Working with up to 50 dogs at a time was no easy feat. "We sometimes had to do scenes 15 to 20 times. If one little thing was off, we'd have to do it again," says Emma, who tripped and got trampled by running dogs while shooting a chase scene. She loved playing Andi, whom she calls more responsible and less forgetful than she is in real life.
Wizards of Waverly Place star Jake plays Bruce, who creates ingenious inventions to care for the dogs, like fetching- and feeding-machines. And while he isn't quite as mechanically inclined, Jake is just as creative. "I write and like to direct short films," he says. And like Bruce, he loves animals. At his house live three goats, goldfish, and two miniature poodles, but no cats. "I'm allergic," he explains.
Jake and Emma had bonding time with the dogs to get to know them before shooting started. "They would put baby food on our fingers or faces to get the dogs to lick us," says Emma, who has a long-haired Chihuahua named Twiggy at home. She had her eye on a pug puppy that appeared at the end of the movie but didn't take it home. "Twiggy does not get along with other dogs," she explains.
In May, Emma will play a spoiled rich teen sent to an English boarding school in Wild Child and star in the basketball movie The Winning Season later this year. Now a high school senior, she wants to go to college to study English literature and photography.
Jake gets to play his favorite sport in his next movie, the Little League Baseball-themed The Perfect Game, also starring Jansen Panettiere and Moises Arias.
Hotel For Dogs opens everywhere January 16.
WHAT TO WATCH
*Selena Gomez stars in the modern-day music- and dance-filled fairytale Another Cinderella Story, premiering on ABC Family January 18 at 8 p.m. "I never had any experience with dance, and I got completely addicted to it," says Selena, who had two months of training and learned everything from hip-hop to tango. Her co-star is Drew Seeley, who was thrilled to shoot the flick in his Canadian hometown, Vancouver. "All my cousins and my aunt are in the movie," says Drew. "It's kind of like a Seeley family Where's Waldo!"
*It's back! American Idol has its two-night premiere January 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. on Fox.
*The Jonas Brothers are among the presenters at the Golden Globe Awards, airing on NBC January 11 at 8 p.m.
*Kyle XY returns to ABC Family January 12 at 9 p.m., and Friday Night Lights has its NBC season premiere January 16 at 9 p.m. And it's back to the island on the season premiere of Lost, January 21 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
*Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!, a new half-hour animated special, premieres on Cartoon Network January 19 at 8 p.m.
Gerri Miller is a contributing writer for Scholastic News Online.
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