Sheep currently starring in a Hollywood film had their mouths recorded to make their characters’ movements as accurate as possible, a farm’s owner has said.
Elizabeth Miller, who runs Miller’s Ark Animals in Hook, Hampshire, allowed the makers of The Sheep Detectives to record about 40 of her animals.
She said she pointed directors to the farm’s “personalities” but initially did not realise they were looking to make a film starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson.
Some of the sheep have previously featured in Eastenders and 2022 film Lovely Little Farm.
Elizabeth Miller set up the farm in 1991 and it has been used for other filming, including for Eastenders [BBC]
“The producer and director came here and had a look around and chose the sheep they absolutely wanted for the film, which was very exciting and we were delighted,” Miller told BBC Radio Berkshire.
“They went away and said ‘yep, you’re the farm we’ll use for 30 to 40 of the characters’.
“…I had no idea of what the film was, that it was this big, this exciting.”
Other sheep used for the film include Nobby, a Norfolk Horn ram, who lived in Williton, Somerset.
Miller added: “…when they said they wanted a kind of intelligent one, they wanted one that was a bit daft, we said this breed is very intelligent, this breed is a bit daft. And it all fell into place.
“The first tranche of filming was with lots and lots of cameras. They bought a very special dome of hundreds of cameras from Pinewood [Studios] so they could really get every part of the sheep.
“Then they did individual filming… to see how their mouths moved.
“It was incredible, the detail that they went into to get absolutely how sheep move and behave.”
Jackman, who stars as farmer George in the film, did not visit the farm but later met his fluffy co-stars.
“He was really lovely and was really comfortable with the sheep, which was nice to see,” Miller added.
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