By Michael Ray
Sunday, August 5 the Westfield Century City hosted a “green carpet” for the release of the new film Dog Days. The comedy, which opened on August 8, features a cast of canines and humans. In addition to seeing some of the cast from the film, select attendees headed to the Century City’s AMC theatre for an exclusive world premiere of the film.
Directed by Ken Marino (“How to Be A Latin Lover”), the film features stars Nina Dobrev and Tone Bell who are both news anchors. The film is set in Los Angeles and takes a look into the lives of humans and their canine companions. Ahead of the film’s release, Marion introduced the #MuttHowlingChallenge as well as an #AdoptLove campaign, tying in some of the themes of the new film: People’s daily interaction with canines and adoption. Marino posted a video to his Twitter account, challenging actress Vanessa Hudgens and actor Thomas Lennon to howl along with their dogs.
Throughout the Westfield Century City, LED screens flashed news of the film. Additionally, Westfield livestreamed the “green carpet” premiere. “For the first time ever, the event will stream live on screens at select Westfield locations across the country so even if you aren’t close to Century City, you can still be a part of the action,” stated a press release from Westfield Century City. Locally, people gathered on the second level of the Westfield to catch a glimpse of their favorite celebrities. Among those in attendance were co-writers of the film Erica Oyama and Elissa Matsueda, as well as Finn Wolfhard who plays a neighborhood pizza delivery boy in the film. In addition to human celebrities, the dogs that played the roles of Sam, Mabel, Charlie, and Gertrude—along with their trainers—were present for the premiere.
During the livestream Rob Corddry who plays the role of “Kurt” stated, “I grew up with dogs, I had four dachshunds and one Tibetan terrier… I personally, think you need a dog that just makes you laugh every time you see them.”
In the film actor Jon Bass plays the role “Garret” who owns a dog rescue and faces potential eviction as his landlord has sold the building. During the trailer, which played on a monitor above the “green carpet,” he is seen alongside co-star “Gertrude” the Chihuahua and Vanessa Hudgens who plays a barista in the film.
A release for the film stated that “’DOG DAYS’ highlights the everyday connections between people and their dogs in Los Angeles as they uncover life lessons and new relationships in this romantic comedy in the vein of ‘Love, Actually’ and ‘Crazy, Stupid Love.’”
As people made their way from the ground level to the AMC Theater for premiere, Director Ken Marino spoke about the film, “I’m just excited, I hope everybody enjoys the movie. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now so it’s a great time to go see a movie that’s heartwarming, [and] for the family… There’s some good laughs in it, and maybe you’ll cry a couple of times. And hopefully you’ll go out and immediately adopt a dog, because it is important.”
For more information, please visit:
www.westfield.com/centurycity/events/all-events
