It’s a zoo around here

When Michel Hazanavicius was interviewed on BBC Breakfast a few weeks back, he seemed to get annoyed at the number of questions about Uggie, the canine co-star of awards contender The Artist. With so much else to talk about – the filmmaking process, his inspirations, and the human actors for starters – it seemed almost a little rude that the dog stole the show.

Well, Hazanavicius better look away now because the pooch is now making his own solo media appearances. The nine-year-old Jack Russell has a WEEK of London media appearances planned including stints on The Graham Norton Show and Newsround. He’s already done a photo shoot with The Hollywood Reporter and been on a US media tour, after winning the Palm Dog in Cannes. He’s even Tweeting for chrissakes (@Uggie_TheArtist).

The animal kingdom will also be well represented on the red carpet for DreamWorks’ UK premiere of Spielberg’s War Horse, as one of the 14 horses who played Joey joins the celebrations. The Milton Keynes-based equine star has already done a Vanity Fair photoshoot but likes to also spend his time eating hay. This puts a whole new spin on the red carpet, spurring many questions: Will Benedict Cumberbatch ride him in? Will he nuzzle up to Wills and Kate (who will be attending the charity screening)? Will Joey wear a sequined saddle and matching fascinator?

As much as we don’t want to take away from the human actors, (most) everyone loves meeting a cuddley animal friend. One of my starry AFM highlights (there aren’t many) over the years was meeting Hey-Hey, the dog who played Lassie for Charles Sturridge in 2005. One of the classier bitches roaming the halls of the Loews, for sure.

And I’d certainly like to shake paws with that scene-stealing monkey from The Hangover 2.

Now let’s hope Joey doesn’t have any red carpet accidents near the royals. If he and Uggie behave we might soon have animals on every red carpet — we just hope that canine corpse from Tyrannosaur doesn’t show up anywhere.