Or, to be more specific, how a cat named Reggie played a cat named Goose, who used to be called Chewie and is actually a Flerken, stole the film Captain Marvel.
But let’s start at the beginning, which would be the Marvel comic books.
In the original Captain Marvel comics (NOT to be confused with DC Comics’ Captain Marvel with Billy Batson shouting “Shazam!”) the Flerken’s name is Chewie, after Chewbacca from the Star Wars series. Chewie was the pet of Carol Danvers who initially believed he was just a regular housecat.
What the flerk is a Flerken?
As explained by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick in Captain Marvel Volume 8 No. 1, Flerkens are very dangerous alien creatures which can lay 117 eggs at a time and sprout innumerable tentacles from their mouths. They also have the ability to hold pocket dimensions (or bubbles of alternate realities and time) within their bodies. “This not only explains how Flerkens like Goose are able to gobble up so many people (and things like the Tesseract) but it also allows for interdimensional travel and transportation … at the cost of being swallowed and vomited up by a Flerken,” further explained an article on Collider.
The director of the film adaptation wanted to tie the Flerken’s name to Danvers’ past as an Air Force pilot and changed his moniker to Goose, the name of the character played by Anthony Edwards in the film Top Gun. Also in the movie, Goose appears to have belonged to scientist Wendy Lawson, aka Mar Vell (played by Annette Bening), before eventually tagging along with Danvers.
Cats Playing Aliens
For the movie, Goose was played by four different cat actors; the hero cat was named Reggie with Gonzo, Rizzo and Archie acting as “stunt doubles.” Boone’s Animals for Hollywood provided the cat talent.
Reggie was cast when trainer Ursula Brauner brought him to an audition. She reportedly walked into a roomful of people and set a big plush bed on the table. “Reggie hung out on the bed and was as chill as any cat could be and the filmmakers saw him embody the character then and there,” Brauner explained to the New York Times.
With Reggie cast, the script was reviewed and it was decided that because of the amount of screen time and work required that some backup cats would be hired. Archie, another experienced cat actor already with Animals for Hollywood, joined the cast. Brauner found two more orange tabbies at a shelter and they were named Gonzo and Rizzo (Reggie and Archie are named after Archie comics characters while Gonzo and Rizzo were named for Muppets).
Each cat actor had their own specialty. “Reggie was our all-around go-to cat — he’s seen in most of the film,” Brauner explained to the New York Times. “Archie is really rambunctious and loves to play, so we used him for the scratching scene.”
Brauner went on to explain that Gonzo was mostly used for the holding scenes when Goose is carried by someone. “And Rizzo was the master of all trades — we trained him in a little bit of everthing, so he could step in is we needed backup.”
Positive reinforcement was the key to training the cats to perform, offering them food and treats as incentive and adding warm food for a more complicated actions to give the cats a little extra motivation. Verbal commands, clickers and pets were also utilized.
Co-Starring with Cats
“Sam (Samual Jackson) always gave them treats,” Brauner explained. “Every time they saw Sam, it was like, ‘Oh, I remember you!'” This is interesting since it was also reported that Samuel L. Jackson is actually rather unattached to animals but admitted his cat co-stars were true professionals . . . with the right motivation. “You give him something to eat, he shows up. You give him something to eat, you talk softly and nice to him, give him something to eat again. They love you. So, it works out.” Amazingly Brie Larson is allergic to cats but trainer Brauner stated that it never affected the trainers or the cats and noted that the actress never put the cats out of ease despite her affliction.
Ben Mendelsohn loved cozying up to the cats which was interesting since he was playing the Flerken-fearing Skrull named Talos. His affection for the cats helped them be more at ease around his unusual prosthetic makeup. In fact time was taken out for the cats to get accustomed to the tight quad-jet set and odd costumes. Brauner explained the situation to Thrillist: “We really had to spend some time with Reggie to get him comfortable, so that he understood that this was all just part of the environment. So, Ben just sat down and gave that cat treats just to get him comfortable working with him. It was the most surreal experience, because we were in the quad-jet, with Ben Mendelsohn as a Skrull with a cat, and he is talking in a kitty voice to him and giving him treats.”
Director Anne Boden was a bit torn between using professional well-trained cats and having the cats look natural on screen, so she let the cat actors “ad-lib” some of their natural actions to achieve a realistic portrayal. The American Humane Association website also reported that to get the cat actors to lick their paws a bit of butter was placed there. The AHA also explained that any time Goose was seen being held by the scruff it was accomplished with CGI.
Real Cat or CGI?
While CGI was obviously used to bring out Goose’s more Flerken-like tendencies, a fair amount of screen time is of actual cat actors, so this was a very impressive performance by this specific team. But we cannot overlook the incredibly realistic job of the special effects team who made it pretty much impossible to tell the real cats from the CGI cats. Don’t believe us? Watch this segment on the creation of the CGI Goose:
Captain Marvel made Goose a star with the character getting his own poster before the film’s release.
Reggie even walked the red carpet at the film’s premiere (in actuality, Reggie shot his red carpet walk in a controlled environment beforehand):
Trainer Ursula Brauner was called upon to do numerous interviews about the cat performers which was a wonderful opportunity to explain the world of cat acting. Reggie was also featured in cute promo videos for the film, such as this staged “audition”:
And this Ask Marvel segment:
A whole string of merchandise was also created around Goose the Flerken.
Fans were quick to request a spin-off movie based solely on Goose. Until that happens, you can see members of the same cat team performing in the films in The Hateful 8, Mayans MC and Adoring. Their demo reel can be viewed here: