The very first Hollywood Cat to get top billing in a film climbed out from under the floorboards at Keystone Studios and right into the middle of a Mack Sennett slapstick comedy. Mack didn’t even stop filming; he just named the grey kitten Pepper and carried on. She went on to feature in many of his films for the next 16 years!

FINDING A HOLLYWOOD CAT

The story of the first Hollywood cat starlet predicted how most cat co-stars would be found today: they’re rescues! Ideally, trainers would find each cat destined to be a Hollywood Cat when they’re kittens, so they can raise them from the start to be cool with all the chaos on set and instill all the necessary trained behaviors as their kitten grows. That’s not always possible, however! Often, you’ll find animal trainers scouring rescue shelters to find cats with the right look and temperament to play a particular film role. The best part is that these cats are rescued – and later adopted when their work is done.

TRAINING A CAT TO BE A STAR

Training a cat to star on film seems to be about 60% acclimating them to the bright lights and big city business of an active film set and 40% getting them to do actions on command. So trainers recreate all the light and movement and sound of a film set during practical training, which amounts to breaking a cat’s performance down into individual actions that can then be strung together. They start with simple action commands like “stay,” “walk,” or “touch this thing with your nose.” Those commands can later be linked together to make a more complicated action on set – which could be running across some ground as squibs explode or giving Audrey Hepburn a massage.

Maybe we should all train our cats to make biscuits on command!

The training method most often used on cats by Hollywood trainers is clicker training: once your feline friend performs the desired action, you use the clicker and give the cat a treat. Providing a toy can help provoke the cat to perform specific actions as well, like jumping or leaping. As they get deeper into training, the cat should eventually perform the action on command without the need for treats – and a Hollywood Cat is born!

TEMPERAMENT TIDBITS & ICONIC FELINES

Not all cats show up in Hollywood like Pepper, ready for their close-ups, kthx Mr. DeMille. In most cases, the right kitty for a particular role must be found and their behavior shaped to fit the script’s demands. One of the most important facets of a cat actor is their temperament – you need to make sure that the cat’s natural personality fits the actions they are being asked to perform.

Just look at Solomon, the iconic white Persian cat you see with James Bond’s archnemesis Blofeld in You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. The filmmakers needed a lap cat who was content to be held for long periods of time – from all reports and the evidence of our screens, Solomon was content to oblige them. (Though he sometimes got scared of all the set activity!)

Sometimes, you need cats who are good with crowded situations: when the script also calls for an orange tabby, look no further than Daryl, one of the three cats who played Ulysses in the Coen Bros. film Inside Llewyn Davis. Daryl was on call when Oscar Issac’s character rode the subway in loud and crowded scenes and was mostly a total pro about the busyness of it all. (He did scratch Oscar once when he had a fright – read more about that anecdote and the other two cats who played Ulysses at this Vulture piece.)

And yes, I said three cats that played Ulysses in Inside Llewyn Davis! Because different cats have different attitudes, it’s also important to have a number of cats playing the same role. In the movie Keanu, seven different tabby cats played the titular adorable feline! The first three kittens cast outgrew the part, and so four more were brought in later. One of the bravest of the bunch, who didn’t mind running through a busy set while explosions went off, was named Squibword – a reference to the exploding squibs he ran through.

Of course, another great benefit of having multiple cats playing the same cat means each kitty gets regular breaks throughout a day’s filming. Stress is no one’s friend, so downtime is important – just ask Bob’s Burgers’ Mr. Business.

Can you believe that cats found their place in Hollywood before we even had regular, synchronized sound in movies? They were born to be stars, kids. We just helped them get there.

Now, hit the comments and tell us: Who is your favorite cat co-star?