CENTURY CITY, Calif., Dec. 12, 1999 — There are pets, and then there are pets who become best friends.
Such is the story behind “My Dog Skip,” a coming-of-age family film based on the memoir by Willie Morris. Starring Kevin Bacon, Diane Lane and newcomer Frankie Muniz, the story details the friendship between young Willie (Muniz) and the Jack Russell terrier he receives for his 9th birthday (the dog is played by Enzo, whose father, Moose, stars on “Frasier”).
Before Skip, Willie led an isolated, lonely childhood; his sole friend is the town’s star athlete Dink (Luke Wilson of “Home Fries” and “Blue Streak”), who soon leaves town to serve in World War II. His mother (Lane) wants to give him the puppy, but his overprotective father (Bacon), a stern but kind-hearted war veteran, stays overprotective, not wanting to see his son suffer when a pet eventually gets sick and dies.
“I think that as a parent we all want to keep our kids from experiencing any pain,” says Bacon, who has two children with his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick. “My brother-in-law goes to the doctor with his newborn baby — it’s his first kid — and when the baby gets a shot, my brother-in-law cries. That’s kind of what it’s like to be a parent.
“I think that this character is especially concerned about that with the little boy. Part of what the movie is about is that he has to come to grips with the fact that sooner or later in a child’s life, in a child’s development, he will experience the darker sides of life, and he has to let him go.”
Despite his character’s concerns, however, the headstrong mother overrules his decision and grants Willie the puppy. Bacon muses that this dynamic recalls life at home.
“It sorta reminded me of my own relationship,” Bacon said. “I am a bit of a traditionalist. I am the dad, and I do consider the breadwinning to be my responsibility, and I do sit at the head of the table. But when push comes to shove, I think she really probably drives the car.”
But Bacon can rest assured that he at least remained head of the film; the actor who has a Six Degrees game named after him elicited praise from his 14-year-old co-star.
“It was cool to work with him,” says Muniz (Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle”), who started acting in theater at age 8 and beat nearly 3,000 children for the part. “It was really one of the first times I’ve ever really worked with a big star like Kevin Bacon. I was really nervous to meet him, but he was very nice. … Kevin would give me some pointers sometimes when we were doing some scenes.”
Central to the film is Willie’s life lessons, one of which is hard learned when his hero, Dink, returns to town disgraced after going AWOL during the war and shuts out everyone, including his young friend.
“My character goes [off to war] and is terrified and is then considered a coward,” Wilson says. “So he has that change of being held in really high esteem to everybody kind of looking down [at him] in this small town in Mississippi. And the cliché is, everybody knows everybody. So it’s all the more kind of tragic, like somebody’s family disowning them.”
But realizing Willie’s loyalty makes Wilson’s character do some growing up of his own.
“When my character gets back from the war and has fallen from grace, the person who looks out for him and reaches out to him is this boy,” Wilson says. “And I think that’s part of his growing up, is learning the lesson to stand by his friend when he’s going through a tough time and not turn his back and not join the crowd in looking down on him.”
“My Dog Skip” opens Jan. 12.
