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How Naomi Watts Prepared to Work With Bing, Her 145 Pound Great Dane Co-Star in ‘The Friend’


Naomi Watts discusses the 6-week training she went through to get comfortable working with Bing, a Great Dane she co-stars with in 'The Friend'

But none of those leading men prepared her for Bing, the 145-pound Great Dane she co-stars with in “ The Friend,” a drama about heartbreak, art and a very big dog that screens at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Bill Berloni, the veteran animal trainer whose job it was to prepare Bing for his close-up, insisted on having Watts meet two times a day for 20 minute each with the dog, so she could learn how to control the lumbering giant on the streets of New York City, where “The Friend” was shot. Watts plays Iris, a writing instructor whose mentor Walter (Bill Murray) commits suicide and leaves her to care for his Great Dane, Apollo.

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