Emma Roberts stars as a resourceful dog lover named Andi who decides to help out every stray dog in her neighborhood by opening a pet hotel in Hotel for Dogs, a family friendly comedy directed by first-time feature film director Thor Freudenthal. Andi and her kid brother Bruce (Jake T Austin) own a Jack Russell Terrier named Friday who's living in their apartment on borrowed time. It's a strictly no pets zone, and they need to find Friday a new place to live soon. When they notice a deserted building already housing a few strays, Andi and Bruce decide it's the perfect place to shelter all dogs who happen to be homeless. But, of course, not everyone in their neighborhood is happy about their animal-loving endeavor.
Andi's tough, protective and a real fighter, but there were other aspects of her personality that Roberts connected with. "I definitely identify with her in some scenes. She kind of felt awkward in social settings sometimes, and I think we all feel like that at some point. You know in high school, you go to a party and you don’t really know anyone and you feel uncomfortable. I could definitely relate to her in that way," explained Roberts.
"She’s definitely responsible. I’m responsible too," added Roberts. "She’s more responsible than me though, I think. I’m very forgetful. She’s not. I have a little sister that I try to look after but she’s very mature for her age and doesn’t need much looking after from me. She’s 7, almost 8."
Hotel for Dogs is based on the children's book of the same name by Lois Duncan. Roberts hadn't read the book before taking on the lead role, but she did get to meet Duncan while filming was underway. "It was funny because the author actually came to set and she said to me, 'You’re much prettier and much skinnier than the Andi I imagined in the book.' I was like, 'Oh, okay, thank you.' She was just so sweet. She was the sweetest woman. 'You’re much prettier than the Andi I wrote about.' 'Well thanks, I think.' She and her husband came by, 'We love what you’re doing. It’s so great.' I was really glad because she wrote it, it’s really personal to her, so I’m glad she liked what she saw."
Roberts said they did a good deal of work before stepping in front of the cameras to make sure things went as smoothly as possible once shooting began. "We did a lot of rehearsals just because there were a bunch of kids in the movie so we rehearsed with each other. And we had to get to know the dogs, so we had bonding days with the dogs."
Bonding with dogs included, in Roberts' words, feeding them "gross treats." "We would put baby food on our finger and they would lick it off. I don’t like when dogs lick me. The dog is licking my whole arm and my face and I was like, 'Oh my God!' 'Well, it’s cleaner than a human’s mouth,' and then I’d see the dog licking its butt. I don’t think so!"
Don’t get her wrong – Roberts is a fan of dogs. "I love dogs. I don’t like them to lick my mouth," said Roberts.
Even though she's a dog-lover, working with the dogs didn't always go smoothly. Asked if she had to do more takes because of her furry co-stars, Roberts replied, "Sometimes way more than usual. It depends. Some days the dogs would do everything they were supposed to do and other days they would be like, 'We’re tired. We’re not gonna do that.' I think sometimes we did like 15 takes, 20 takes, which was crazy. But usually the scenes were very, very long and had to be right in sequence. Everything had to be right and if one little thing was off, we would have to do it again. It was definitely a very technical kind of movie."
After dealing with a wide variety of dogs on Hotel for Dogs, if she could choose any breed of dog to be, what would she choose? "A Cocker Spaniel or a Border Collie. In the movie, Shep the Border Collie was my favorite dog. I would play with it when we weren’t shooting. I loved it. I wanted to take it home. It was the most well-behaved and the most beautiful dog. I really loved it. And Cocker Spaniels I think are so cute and fun. I love them."
Roberts hopes that teens get a kick out of Hotel for Dogs. "It’s a really feel-good movie I think, so I hope they go out of the movie with a smile having enjoyed it. Also, I think there are so many messages in it - just be comfortable with yourself, and it’s important to look after other people and not just think about yourself and be selfish. That’s what I really liked about the movie."
