Movie Reviews
Must Love Dogs: Ali Hillis Has No Bones To Pick With Her Beverly Hills Chihuahua Costars
Heather Turk, SoCal.com Movie/TV Editor |
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 Looking back, actress Ali Hillis knew from a young age that her life was going to the dogs.
“The first role I ever had was when I was 10 years old in [a production of] ‘Annie,’” Hillis said. “I was sent home with Sandy--who had the worst gas ever--and I think that sort of foreshadowed my whole career was going to the dogs.”
Since sharing the stage with Annie’s loyal (and gassy) pup, Hillis has gone on to “be a magnet for dog movies,” starring in everything from 2005’s Must Love Dogs to the upcoming Disney family film Beverly Hills Chihuahua. In Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Hillis plays Angela, a “shallow, Beverly Hills convertible-drivin’-name-on-her-plates party girl” who encourages Piper Perabo’s character to enjoy a little “fiesta time” in Mexico. When Perabo is forced to take the Beverly Hills pooch she’s watching over, Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore), along for the ride, chaos naturally ensues when the pampered pup wanders off and finds herself lost South of the Border.
Having grown up with dogs since the day she was born (Hillis is currently the proud owner of a 10-year-old boxer named Maxine and another boxer named Cooper who she rescued from an Orange County boxer rescue group just last year), Hillis said she paid close attention to the treatment the star pooches were receiving during the filming of Beverly Hills Chihuahua and can honestly say, without any hesitation, that Disney treated the dogs with the utmost care.
 “If they were being mistreated, I wouldn’t have been able to take it,” Hillis said. “They were treated very well, though--like little princes and princesses. We were actually jealous of them at times. We were filming in Puerto Vallarta in the summer and there was no air conditioning in this mansion we were at. But Disney brought in these huge air conditioning tubes and aimed them directly at the crates the dogs were in so they were always cool and comfortable. The people actors? Not so much. At one point, Jamie Lee Curtis (who plays Chloe’s owner, Aunt Viv) actually said she had enough and climbed into one of the tubes--all you could see were her little Jimmy Choos dangling out from it. It was hilarious!”
Hillis said she spent most of her time on-set standing by the food table and watching the animal trainers work with the film’s many pooches (“The director would just ask for something and glance at the trainers, and within minutes they’d have the dogs trained,” Hillis marveled). While some movie-goers may have thought the dogs in Beverly Hills Chihuahua were animated after seeing the musical teaser trailer before Prince Caspian, Hillis was quick to clarify that only the animals’ mouths and expressions were animated--Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a live-action film featuring real dogs. In fact, many of the dogs in the film were rescued, including Papi, the amorous Chihuahua voiced by George Lopez who lends a paw to save Chloe.
“Papi was the most fantastic animal,” Hillis said. “He was actually rescued the day before he was supposed to be put down. [Beverly Hills Chihuahua] is probably the first time an animal’s personality changed the studio’s original publicity plans; instead of the film’s star, Chloe, being on all the billboards as planned, if you look, every single billboard for the film has Papi on it. He just owned this movie. He even did most of his own stunts, as it was hard to find a double for him.”
 One of Hillis’ favorite stunts involving Papi is actually shown in the second trailer for the movie, where Papi is jumping repeatedly to look over Chloe’s posh, Beverly Hills hedge and yell out to his love, who’s sunbathing with some four-legged friends by the pool.
“It doesn’t look real, but Papi actually did that,” Hillis said. “It was funny cause the director (Raja Gosnell, Scooby-Doo, Never Been Kissed) would yell cut and he’d still be jumping.”
Hillis said she also loved that scene for the “little Chihuahuas in bikinis,” although she enjoyed her own scene poolside just as much.
“During [the humans’] swimming pool scene, Piper and I were supposed to react with “ew” as Papi launched himself across us, but it was just so cool we had a hard time,” Hillis recalled with a laugh.
 Papi was clearly a little Mexican jumping bean, but there was one thing the scene-stealing pup couldn’t get right no matter how many takes he had.
“There’s this scene where Papi’s talking to a bird, and they tried to have the two of them work together,” Hillis stated. “But every time they would try to shoot the scene between them, Papi would try to chase the bird. But really, when he was starving on the streets just days before, how could you not expect him to think ‘That’s not lunch?’ Eventually, they just used a split screen for the scene, but they kept trying to get it right.”
There’s no doubt Papi won Hillis’ heart during the filming of the movie, but what about Chloe?
“There were about five white Chihuahuas who played Chloe, and each one did her own tricks,” Hillis said. “Angel, though, was the one with the star quality: she had the attitude and walk for Chloe. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but at times she was a little high-maintenance; she would scream when her wardrobe didn’t fit and was a bit too hoity-toity for my personal taste.”
 All joking aside, Angel was also a hit on-set and actually went home with one of the animal trainers once production wrapped.
“It takes a very special animal to win the heart of a trainer,” Hillis pointed out, noting that trainers work with hundreds--if not thousands--of animals during their careers.
Hillis admitted she almost went home with a Chihuahua of her own, too, although looking back she’s glad she didn’t, as, unbeknownst to her, she was going to become engaged shortly after Beverly Hills Chihuahua finished shooting. Still, she admitted she was hoping there was a Chihuahua in her parting gift bag and hopes that the film makes people want to rescue a Chihuahua as much as she did.
“The good and bad thing about movies like this or celebutantes like Paris Hilton are they really glorify getting a puppy,” Hillis said. “But getting a puppy is a huge responsibility, for kids especially. Yes, it brings a lot of joy, but if you’re not ready for [the responsibility that comes with adopting] a puppy, I hope you just find joy and entertainment in this film. But for those who are ready, I hope the movie encourages them to find a nice rescue Chihuahua of their own.”
 Continuing her tradition of starring in movies with dogs (“There’s always this eye roll involved whenever you mention filming a movie with dogs or kids, but I love it,” Hillis said. “I welcome it wholeheartedly.”), Hillis can next be seen this December in another Disney family film: the latest installment in the Air Bud series, Space Buddies. Until then, she’s just looking forward to the release of Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
“I told my now-husband that we have to wait to have our honeymoon ’til after the movie comes out,” Hillis concluded. “This is my first kids movie, and I want to watch it with kids in the theater--hearing them giggle, that’s different than watching the movie at the premiere.”
Beverly Hills Chihuahua opens in theaters everywhere Oct. 3.
For more information, visit disney.go.com/disneypictures/beverlyhillschihuahua.
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