From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies.
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Frederik Du Chau spent time working as a storyboard artist for Oscar winner Chuck Jones, the man who created the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe le Pew, and Marvin the Martian, before directing the 1999 animated film, "Quest for Camelot." With the comedy movie "Racing Stripes," Du Chau makes the leap from working with animated animals to directing a whole menagerie of flesh and blood barnyard creatures.

The idea for a movie set on a racetrack had been kicked around for five years. Executive producer Steve Wegner and screenwriter Dave Schmidt came up with the idea while betting on horses. But it was director Du Chau and writing partner Kirk DeMicco's idea to make a zebra the unlikely hero of a film involving horseracing.

"Racing Stripes" executive producer Wegner says the introduction of a zebra jump-started the movie. "It elevated the whole film to another level because it's so different from the get-go. Seeing a zebra on a racetrack, racing thoroughbreds, is just such a great image. 'Racing Stripes' is truly a sports movie about someone fighting against all odds to be a champion," says Wegner.

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR FREDERIK DU CHAU:

Did you ever have any second thoughts about using real animals rather than doing CGI animals?
No, there’s very little. I mean, obviously all the talking animals, their mouths and their eye expressions are CG. Other than that, there are only seven shots that are CGI because of safety issues for either actors or animals. But no, we were determined to make this movie with real animals because you can’t really get what you want from puppets or CG.

How tough was it to direct all these different types of animals?
All kudos go to the animal trainers. We have big stars in this movie but our animal trainers are big stars in what they do. They give you the same performances. You know, you get Dustin Hoffman and it’s great. And then you get people like Steve [Martin] and Karl [Lewis Miller] and they give you the same performance through their animals.

Did any of your voice cast ever come up with anything that made you go back and have to reshoot a scene?
No, we couldn’t. They come up with plenty of things, they improvised and all that. But we spent five months filming in South Africa, left, everything was taken down, and the movie worked. Nothing was reshot.

Did Hayden Panettiere really ride a zebra and do her own stunts?
She does 95% of everything you see. She’s very gutsy. She got banged up a little bit sometimes, but she was unbelievable. And she had barely sat on a horse, let alone rode jockey-style on top of a zebra.

What was your experience like working in South Africa? Is it an easy place to film?
Yes. They’re great crews. They’re very much like in LA or in the United States because they do a lot of commercials for Europe. It’s a very seasoned crew. It was a great experience.

Would you work with wild animals again?
Oh, absolutely. If this does well enough I’m hoping to do… I mean, I wrote the sequel. The sequel’s in my computer so I’m hoping to be able to do that.

Will Stripes enter more races or will you throw in a different type of animal?
(Smiling) I will keep that [a secret] for the next couple of months. We’ll see.

Did you have any concerns about releasing “Racing Stripes” the same day as “Elektra” hits theaters?
No, no, no. Different audience, different movie. This is a movie for everybody. We’ve got humor for the adults. We’ve got things for the kids. So no, not at all.

ADDITIONAL “RACING STRIPES” INTERVIEWS:
Hayden Panettiere / Frankie Muniz / M. Emmet Walsh / Bruce Greenwood / Jeff Foxworthy / Jeff Gordon