Lived It

Snack: Barbra Streisand cloned her dogs

Episode Summary

...and other furry friends and canine companions from our favourite screen icons in this first Snack episode: a bite-sized dig into a pop culture obsession.

Episode Notes

...and other furry friends and canine companions from our favourite screen icons in this first Snack episode: a bite-sized dig into a pop culture obsession.

Tell us your favourite pets on set at @netflixanz on Instagram and Twitter, or tag #thebigfilmbuffet.

Episode Transcription

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Welcome to The Big Film Buffet: snack edition. I am Alexei Toliopoulos.

Gen Fricker:

And I am Gen Fricker, and I am excited, Alexei, because we're getting into the world of Barbara Streisand and her little dogs.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

This is something that I have been obsessed with for a long time, and it was reawoken recently, because I watched a beautiful touching Barbara Streisand starring and directed romantic comedy that is on Netflix in Australia, it's called The Mirror Has Two Faces. I do have a tremendous amount of respect for Barbara Streisand as an artist, as a filmmaker, as-

Gen Fricker:

As a girl boss?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

As an absolute girl boss. One of the original girl bosses, and this is probably one of the biggest girl boss movies anyone has ever done. There's an article, though I'm just going to read you the title of the article that Barbara Streisand wrote for the New York Times back in 2018, that has lived in my soul, and my essence for the last few years. "Barbara Streisand explains: Why I cloned my dog"

Gen Fricker:

What?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Barbara Streisand-

Gen Fricker:

Wait. Was it in the New York Times?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

This is a New York Times article-

Gen Fricker:

Oh my god.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

... written by Barbara Streisand, so it is a true thing that's happening in the world.

Gen Fricker:

Fact checked?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's absolutely fact checked. Barbara Streisand had a beautiful puppy. It was a maltipoo.

Gen Fricker:

Excuse me.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

A maltipoo.

Gen Fricker:

What did you just call me?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's a Maltese cross poodle.

Gen Fricker:

Okay.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's a beautiful crossbreed, and she loved this dog, Sammy, so much. Samantha, her beloved puppy, tragically Sammy passed away. She left this mortal coil and faced the next realm.

Gen Fricker:

She crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She rode up Rainbow Road, and Barbara Streisand was beside herself and she wanted to have two dogs beside themselves, so she cloned Sammy.

Gen Fricker:

What?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She had her dog cloned.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my god.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I didn't even know clones existed, to be honest. I thought it was from the realm of science fiction.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. I guess Dolly the sheep, that was a clone.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, I guess, Dolly the sheep, that's the only other clone I know.

Gen Fricker:

Man, if I knew clones were on the table. Every time a beloved pet died in my family, I would never be sad again.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, absolutely, because you can just get your dog cloned. I didn't even know clones existed, and here Barbara Streisand is with two versions of her cloned dog, Sammy.

Gen Fricker:

She's cloned the dog twice?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She's cloned the dog twice. You can clone your dog for $50,000, so anyone can do it. If you've got 50 K spare change, you can make as many versions of your dog as you want.

Gen Fricker:

Does she talk about why specifically she wanted Sammy cloned?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah.

Gen Fricker:

Surely it'd be cheaper to just get another dog.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She did that too, but she missed Sammy and she loved that dog so much, so she had Sammy cloned, and I will tell you this, this is a direct quote from her article and this is the closing line. I'm willing to tell you right now, if you're at home, get your fricking tissues nearby, because this is going to spring the waterworks on, much like when you hear Barbara Streisand sing, The Way We Were.

Gen Fricker:

Hold your pet.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Hold your pet, or keep them far away, whatever you need.

Gen Fricker:

Hold on. Should we call the pets over to the speaker?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah. Call them over.

Gen Fricker:

... come here.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

... come on Munchkin, which I assume your dog's called.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

"You can clone the look of a dog, but you can't clone the soul. Still, every time I look at their faces, I think of my Samantha and smile." That's basically lyrics that Barbara Streisand wrote into this article

Gen Fricker:

That sounds like dystopian fiction to me, honestly. That's 1984 stuff, like you can't clone a soul.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, absolutely.

Gen Fricker:

Thank god.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah. That's like the plot of Blade Runner, I think.

Gen Fricker:

I'm fairly certain. Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Isn't that crazy though, that the most real life that feels like science fiction that I've ever encountered in this world is controlled by Babs?

Gen Fricker:

Babs baby.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Babs is like the Victor Frankenstein of this world.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah, that is wild. I always love though, when you see actors and their pets. Pets on sets.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Pets on sets.

Gen Fricker:

Is that a genre?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

That's absolutely a genre. Pets on sets, but you're right. There's something of that kind of actor animal that they have with them. Who are some of the biggest ones? We've got Carrie Fisher's dog, Gary, right?

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. Who happened to be in a scene in Last Jedi.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

He's in the Last Jedi. He's in the casino planet.

Gen Fricker:

They put some fake ears on him.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

My memory was that little cute bulldog head popping out of a tentacle body.

Gen Fricker:

Oh, that's so good.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, Gary we stand, we stand you Gary.

Gen Fricker:

We stand, Gary. We stand all pets on sets.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Absolutely.

Gen Fricker:

I remember in the new Star is Born, speaking of Babs.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Once played in Star is Born.

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

That is on Netflix. Check out the Babs one.

Gen Fricker:

But the Bradley Cooper version, there's a very full on scene with Bradley Cooper, and his character, feeding his dog, but his dog is played by his real life dog.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my god. A method performance, if you will.

Gen Fricker:

I know.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

This was something I found so weird, it stuck with me. Do you remember the movie, The Artist? That silent film, won Best Picture at the Oscars?

Gen Fricker:

Yes. Was it a musical as well? It can't be a musical if it's silent.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

A silent film.

Gen Fricker:

But people were dancing, I feel.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Whatever it is, it had the vibe of a musical. I missed out on it, but I did not miss out on the tremendous amount of Oscar buzz this movie captured, so much of that buzz was dedicated to the dog from the movie, Uggie, and people were going, "This dog is going to win an Oscar this year."

Gen Fricker:

Wait, hold on. I need to look up who else was nominated for an Oscar that year?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, The Artist year.

Gen Fricker:

Colin Firth for the King's Speech.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Okay. He did win. It's a great performance, but Uggie, there's something more exciting about a dog than a guy pretending to be a king.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. I feel like it's an unfair advantage, because dogs can't talk, or at least they don't want us to know they can.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Well, perfect role for a dog, because in fact, in a silent movie, nobody can fricking talk. That's how Uggie was able to steal the spotlight. He was on an even playing field.

Gen Fricker:

Oh man. I would love to see Colin Firth's face though. King's Speech's about this stuttering man, and you see a dog walk up to the podium, after months and months of preparation for the King's Speech, for the role, for perfecting the stutter, for the gruelling scenes, and the emotional highs and lows. Then to just be usurped by a dog, who just was like, "Oh, we just shook a bag of treats.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah. And he loved it.

Gen Fricker:

And he loved it.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Then you all cry. You all cried. Oh my god, Uggie, I miss you mate.

Gen Fricker:

Do you reckon he's still around?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

You know what? I'm going to make a guess, no. Producer Michael is waving frantically at us. He's dug up some Uggie news.

Michael:

Uggie has actually won the 2011 Palm Dog, which is an award given every year at Cannes for the best canine performance, but-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Every year, there's one every year?

Michael:

Every single year, but not only that, he also won the 2020 Palm Dog that was given to the Palm Dog of all Palm Dogs. It was the all star of the Palm Dog, and it was Uggie.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my god.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my lord.

Gen Fricker:

Who else is in that category?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

My guess is probably Milo or Otis. Whichever one the dog is.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. Oh, I'm seeing the dog from Once Upon a Time, the Brad Pitt dog.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my lord.

Gen Fricker:

The dog that saves the day. A Titan amongst Titans in that film.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I love these animal actors. The other one that I always think about is... Have you ever seen the horror movie, The Thing?

Gen Fricker:

No, I haven't.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

There's a marvellous German shepherd performance in that movie. Absolutely marvellous. Better than most human actors.

Gen Fricker:

How so?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

They capture an essence of fear and an essence of curiosity from another world, which is The Thing, from another world. It is probably better than, I don't know, Billy crystal in When Harry Met Sally.

Gen Fricker:

Wow.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah. That was the first word that came to mind. That I think is a high-quality performance.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah, it's great. It's one of my favourite films.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I love that movie. I think he's great in it, but this dog is something special.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my gosh.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I'm sorry, Billy.

Gen Fricker:

I feel like if I was an actor and I had to work alongside a dog, first of all, I'd be blown away. Second of all, I would not know how to act. I would forget.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

These thing is giving me nothing.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. Or the opposite where I'm like, "Look at this boy. Look at this boy."

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's so funny. You're playing a crappy family movie. A guy from the dog pound's like, "I got to get this rascally little mutt in here," and you just fall in love and start patting it as soon as you see it. "Oh, Munchkin, Munchkin."

Gen Fricker:

But apparently it's quite common for actors to adopt the dogs that they work with.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

No way?

Gen Fricker:

I mean, it's like an onset romance in another way, in a nonsexual way.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, this is not in controversy. This is you falling in love with something so sweet and so beautiful. I remember reading about Viggo Mortensen adopting his horse from Lord of the Rings.

Gen Fricker:

How do you adopt a horse.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think the horse chooses you. Much like a sword, the horse chooses you.

Gen Fricker:

Chris Evans adopted his dog from Gifted.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Gifted?

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I thought you were going to say little Captain America's-

Gen Fricker:

Oh my god.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

... puppy's pup. Big dog.

Gen Fricker:

Pups in America. Yeah. That's cute. Tiffany Haddish adopted one of the kittens who played Keanu.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

No way.

Gen Fricker:

In Keanu.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

In the Keanu movie.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. She adopted Keanu Reeves.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

Now, he lives in her house, and then she gets little kitten treats for him. He's like, "Whoa."

Alexei Toliopoulos:

"Whoa. That's radical."

Gen Fricker:

I feel like we're not even at the tip of the iceberg with Barbara Streisand.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Not at all.

Gen Fricker:

This is just one little nugget in a vast mine of treasures, but look, if you're listening and you're like, "These people don't even know." Get in touch with us, find us on social and tell us about your favourite pets on sets.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah. Send us your pets on sets babies.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. Also if you loved this podcast, please follow The Big Film Buffet on Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back on Thursday with our Netflix film recommendations.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, I can't wait to find out what that is.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

All right, well, I'm going to start Googling Babs again. I got to find out more about the weird and wacky life of Barbara Streisand.

Gen Fricker:

What do you think she's doing right now,?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Right now, I reckon Babs is sitting on a beautiful beige suede couch.

Gen Fricker:

Something very textural.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Very textual.

Gen Fricker:

With a cashmere scarf wrapped around her.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I had cashmere on the tip of my tongue just then. She's wearing something absolutely thrilling, absolutely comforting, and absolutely gorgeous.

Gen Fricker:

Looking at her two Samanthas running around.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The two Sammys, and the third dog as well, which I believe is called Sadie.

Gen Fricker:

Wait. Are the two clones called Samantha?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She named them new names. There's a lot to unpack here.

Gen Fricker:

Oh, because that would be weird.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

That would be weird, because-

Gen Fricker:

Cloning your dog's not weird.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, as she said...

Gen Fricker:

Naming them the same name as a dead dog is

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She names the soul of the dog, and she said it's different every time it's cloned, okay Gen?

Gen Fricker:

Oh my god.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

She names the soul not the physical-

Gen Fricker:

But if the soul of a dog is different, then what does the container of the soul matter? Just get the same breed.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my lord. I mean, I guess that's true. All dogs go to heaven, even the cloned dogs of Barbara Streisand, is what we're pointing out.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my god.