Q: At the end of the movie “Keanu,” the end credits state, “American Humane Association monitored some of the animal action. No animals were harmed in those scenes.” Does this mean animals might have been harmed in the animal action that wasn’t monitored by the AHA?
—Connie Corpening, Woodstock
A: "Keanu" received a modified end-credit because the American Humane Association's animal safety representatives weren't able to monitor all of the animal action in the film.
“In this case, it was not the production’s lack of willingness or cooperation; we work to cover completely as many sets as possible for the thousands of film and TV commercials produced each year, but occasionally we do not have a certified animal safety representative available to cover every scene every day,” Mark Stubis, American Humane’s chief communications officer, told Q&A on the News in an email.
He added: “The production team and trainers at ‘Keanu’ were very cooperative, and they treated the kittens with the utmost respect, and the scenes we did monitor were the more animal intensive scenes in the film.”
The American Humane’s Film and Television Unit monitors the treatment of animals in the industry. The “No Animals Were Harmed” program celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2015.
American Humane rates movies according to what its representatives report and oversees “animal action on-set for films, television, commercials and more,” it states on its website (humanehollywood.org).
“Keanu” received the “Monitored: Acceptable” rating. Other ratings include “Monitored: Outstanding,” “Monitored: Unacceptable,” “Not Monitored: Production Complaint” and “Not Monitored.”
“Jackie,” “The Magnificent Seven” and “Ben Hur” are among the recent movies rated “Outstanding.”
Ratings and reviews are at humanehollywood.org.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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