‘Greatest in Present’ Canine Clipper Backstage, Improv Fears From Director, Solid
Regardless of the entire idiosyncratic conduct displayed by the canine house owners in Christopher Visitor‘s 2000 satire Greatest in Present, there was one second Visitor heard of as he was researching the cutthroat world {of professional} canine exhibits that he thought was too excessive to incorporate in his movie.
Particularly, Visitor heard that backstage “an individual got here together with a clipper” and lower off a part of the canine’s hair proper earlier than the present.
“That canine can’t be proven for then a 12 months or no matter. That’s how brutal that was,” Visitor mentioned after a twenty fifth anniversary screening of Greatest in Present on the 2025 Tribeca Competition. “They’d come and clip enormous segments out of the fur, and that’s how vicious it was.”
Seemingly stunned by the revelation, moderator Stephen Colbert requested if Visitor thought of together with that second within the movie, which Visitor mentioned he did however in the end demurred, considering it was too terrible.
“I considered it, however I assumed, ‘No, it’s an excessive amount of.’ And it was horrible,” the writer-director mentioned.
Greatest in Present is only one of a sequence of movies that Visitor has made which are largely improvised, with a top level view and the backstory of the characters written out and scenes damaged down however no dialogue written.
Talking in regards to the expertise of appearing in such a challenge, Greatest in Present castmembers Jane Lynch and John Michael Higgins recalled their early nerves.
Lynch, who performs the coach for Jennifer Coolidge’s character’s Rhapsody in White poodle, recalled how this was her (and Coolidge’s) first film with Visitor after she was a giant fan of his earlier work on This Is Spinal Faucet and Ready for Guffman.
“[Coolidge] was nervous and I used to be nervous, and we’re actually grateful we had one another,” Lynch mentioned. “We did lots of speaking about our characters and our relationship, and we walked via Stanley Park collectively.”
Nonetheless she recalled the concern she felt as Visitor started filming: “None of that prepares you for when Chris says ‘motion,’ after which the digicam [begins rolling] and it doesn’t cease.”
Higgins added, “It’s a chilly tub that first day, and it could actually stay a chilly tub for for a full week. If you happen to’re doing a traditional film, there’s rehearsal, there’s all this stuff that occur, form of a normal procession of occasions. And right here we get in there. I bear in mind particularly the foyer of the resort the place the director of images, says, ‘OK, don’t go close to this fern. … Keep over there.’ … Chris is like, ‘OK, let’s roll.’ … And this was movie, you recognize, that’s what’s rolling via — it’s cash.”
Regardless of Higgins and Lynch’s preliminary nerves, Greatest in Present acquired rave opinions, boasting a 93 % freshness ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.