It's all in the "during"

Tall blue humanoids riding pterodactyls in Avatar and Joseph Gordon Levitt scooting around a rotating hotel corridor in Inception are spectacular movie moments, but easy enough to understand (CGI stuff, rotating sets, etc.) In contrast, the short Canadian film Animal Control, which has its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, presents a real brain-scratcher: Director Kire Paputts's 16-minute film about animal control worker and amateur taxidermist Larry (Julian Ritchings) is filled with animal corpses, and even features some close-up home surgery on a raccoon, yet it ends with a disclaimer stating that no animals were harmed in the making of the film.

Behind the film's creation lies a tale to chill the blood, and perhaps burrow into the brain. According to co-producer James Vandewater, the impediments started with finding an animal shelter that was willing to allow them to film. Early on, they tried a suburban animal control centre and were turned down on every request: no shots of stray animals, no images of carcasses were permitted. Then the crew asked if they could view the incinerator.

"Both the manager of the site and the PR person there burst into tears, telling us that they don't talk about the incinerator around there," said Vandewater.

Also critical was assembling stuffed animals to decorate Larry's apartment. The stuffed critters were rented from a collector who claims to have the world's largest collection of shrunken human heads. The crew met their contact in an alley off the Danforth in Toronto. They were led into a basement full of dead animal inventory, including an antique collection of mutant animals (a two-headed cow), where they made their selection.

Other matters were serendipitous. After returning from a farm near Peterborough, Ont., to audition the film's co-star, Dekka the dog, their next casting choice practically fell under their tires. Merlin the Dead Raccoon is played by a freshly killed animal they found on the road; they convinced a nearby farmer to lend them a shovel and garbage bag to bring it home. Merlin spent the next two months, before shooting began, resting in the director's mother's freezer before his close-up in the taxidermy scene.

"The real difficult parts were the sound and the smell," recalls Vandewater. "The DOP had to frequently leave the room for air. I should add that we were shooting this in the director's mother's tiny living room."

Only after, when talking to the manager of a more friendly animal control centre out-of-town, did the crew hear about round worm, a parasite carried by raccoons that can find its way into the human brain and cause devastating results. So far, the crew has shown no symptoms.

At the new out-of-town animal centre, the crew shot for three nights "in one of the most depressing places on earth" wearing ear covers to shield them from the racket of barking dogs. The art department also worked in the centre's walk-in freezer, set-dressing "a disturbingly large pile" of road-kill cats, dogs, deer and raccoons.

So the apparent contradiction is resolved. If there were a prequel to Animal Control, it might be called Car-meggedon, but it's entirely accurate to say that no animals were harmed in the actual making of the film.

Animal Control screens on Wed., Sept. 15 at 9 p.m. at the Bell Lightbox 2, and on Friday, Sept. 17 at 2:45 p.m. at the Jackman Hall, the Art Gallery of Ontario.