The Story Behind How 'Good Boy’s' Director Made A Horror Movie Around His Own Dog

Cinema Blend

There have been so many great horror experiences on the 2025 movie schedule, but few have captured the heart of the internet more than Ben Leonberg’s "Good Boy." Told from the perspective of a retriever exploring a haunted house, the movie gets a whole lot better when you realize how the first-time director made a horror movie around his own dog, Indy.  Ahead of the "Good Boy" premiere, Ben Leonberg spoke with CinemaBlend about his unique film and the adorable pooch at the center of its story. During the chat, he opened up about everything from everyone’s fear Indy would die, to what it was like making one of the most anticipated horror movies of the year with his wife and trusty pet.

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00:00Yeah, I mean, I got Indy's my actual dog.

00:03My wife and I got him as a puppy.

00:05We didn't think he'd be a movie star when we got him.

00:09We just got him to be our friend.

00:11And that's really all he's been trained for.

00:13It's a larger story.

00:14But, you know, figuring out how to make a movie around him, I think, is the right way to think

00:19of it.

00:20Took several years as we were writing the movie.

00:23And yeah, he's a he's a kind of dog who loves to have a job.

00:28He's a retriever.

00:29So, you know, he's he's looking to do something.

00:32Usually it's tennis ball related, but he was very game for let's make a movie for three years.

00:37We lived on the set.

00:39That was our house.

00:40Amazing.

00:41So I have to give her a lot of credit to the producer of the film.

00:45My wife, who before this film was not a filmmaker.

00:48She's a scientist, was very game, very much believed in, I guess, either me or Indy or both of us

00:54that we could pull this off.

00:55And for three years, we lived in that house in the woods, made it we had to do a fair

01:00amount of work to make it look as creepy as it did.

01:03It's in reality a very charming house in the woods.

01:06I think all haunted places, if you see them in daylight, will actually like, oh, that's just like an adorable

01:11Airbnb.

01:12So, you know, we had to do work to make it look creepy, but we live there.

01:16And part of the reason for that is that the way we found to work with Indy to get the

01:21performance we got, you know, him treating that house like it's his house.

01:27It allowed us to capture some things that otherwise wouldn't happen.

01:31The way a dog falls asleep, the way he, when I get out of bed in the morning, he weaves

01:35between my legs as a way to start the day.

01:37These genuine little moments that you can't really train a dog to do, or at least I don't know how

01:41to train a dog to do.

01:42We were able to get them because the movie, or at least the location, was real for Indy.

01:47We were able to get out of bed in the morning.

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