‘My Story’, a must read book, is an autobiography of a canine star Uggie, who appeared in the Oscar winning film ‘The Artist’ and climbed his way up from an abandoned stray dog to a spoiled Hollywood celebrity.
Uggie is the first dog in history that had his own paws put in cement at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, putting him next to the handprints of Hollywood’s VIPs.
The autobiography is signed by the dog paw prints but only for those fans that, lucky enough, got to meet him in person at the very exclusive Hollywood, Paris or London bookshops appearances.
It is the 30th of October 2012 and I am sitting in a room at the London Kensington’s Waterstones bookshop with Uggie, his owner and trainer, Omar von Muller and, the book writer, Wendy Holden.
As soon as I sit Uggie comes and greets me, leaning his paws on my legs and expecting a stroke which he very much loves. He then curls up on the chair, situated in between Omar and myself, but seeing Wendy he immediately gives his sit up to her, as any good gentle-male-dog would do. Whilst Uggie relaxes playing with a soft toy, I start chatting with Omar and Wendy.
Omar explains how an adopted dog like Uggie is somehow aware he was not in the right place at the early stage of his life. This initial suffering made him able to particularly enjoy life, when he found the right place, and certainly appreciate the attention fame brought on him.
For a dog like Uggie, Omar explains, fame is just a matter of time and training. Uggie has been trained for almost 10 years to reach his canine stardom. Most dogs are energetic, intelligent and brave, so with the right training and experience they can accomplish great achievements, but definitely not all dogs are equally gifted in the same way, as some of them will present unresolved issues. Uggie, since a very young age, was a very solid tempered dog, courageous, always willing to do more and he loved his work.
Wendy Holden – once a journalist and now a celebrity biographer, who wrote 26 books, for personalities like Barbara Sinatra and, recently, Goldie Hawn – considers Uggie being the biggest celebrity of them all. When questioned how she felt about writing a book for Uggie, Ms Holden answered she had to spend lots of time with the dog which was ready to tell his story to the world. The animal does understand verbal signals and is able to answer through his physical and emotional reactions in a way similar to a human being.
Uggie started off as a stand up comedian and street entertainer, after Omar had rescued the dog at the age of 9 months. Before securing a starring role in ‘The Artist’ he had been in commercials, B list movies, and in a big film called ‘Water for Elephants’ starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Uggie has his own page on imdb, his own twitter feed, his own facebook fan page and also his own App!
Uggie is now ready to tell his story not only to rescued stray dogs, who hope to have one day a taste of his life, but also to aspiring actors which may want to become Hollywood stars. Uggie has kissed everybody from George Clooney to Jean Dujardin and Charlize Theron. Even being in his presence is a bit of Hollywood stardust! Jean Dujardin, which obviously worked very closely with him, said that quite often he followed Uggie, rather than Uggie following him, because he felt Uggie was able to teach him a great deal about silent movies making. When you are an actor, you have to use words, but when you are a dog, you can only use your expression.
Uggie, despite still receiving job offers for the past year, has now officially retired from movies. He has recently done a little cameo for the book campaign and could still enjoy similar jobs, but very long hours on a movie set are not for him anymore. Whilst shooting ‘The Artist’ cast members like Uggie were required to be on set continuously for 10-12 hours.
Wendy admits that Omar puts care for Uggie before any financial gains – that is why he decided to retire the canine movie star at the pick of his career – Omar did not want to strain his pupil.
Uggie always gets a 5 stars treatment in hotels and flights and at home he has always been treated like a family member (see video link below).
Omar, who has been training animals for about thirty years, before Uggie, had a Jack Russell Terrier, which was already doing movies work, and he currently has Uggie’s brother, his double. The dog is another Jack Russell, which will hopefully follow his paw steps. It is just a matter of the right movie to come at the right time.
The book, published by Harper Collins, has been sold in America, France, England (where it can be found in Waterstones and WHSmiths bookshops) and is going to be also published in Italian next year.
Since Uggie was adopted and he became a star, his owner wants to let people know they should adopt a dog rather than to buy one. Even if the dog will not became a big star on the screen, he will still be a big star in the house, amongst the family.
If you need to buy, buy a book, Uggie says, leaving us all with a big smile!
More info on the writer of the book available here .
Written by Paola Berta
Photography by Simone Lezzi and Tenee Attoh
