Taron Egerton’s Director Calls His Dog Co-Star a ‘Nightmare’ on Set of New Comedy

Taron Egerton has built a reputation as one of the more versatile British actors working today, moving effortlessly between spy thrillers, Elton John biopics, and gritty crime dramas. His latest project takes him into decidedly stranger, more comedic territory, premiering this week at the Toronto International Film Festival with a title that’s already generating plenty of buzz on its own.

That project, ‘Everybody Wants to Fuck Me,’ centers on a man who’s mastered the art of appearing to be the perfect partner, only to discover he’s being stalked by a group of women he’s wronged. Director Jonathan Schey both wrote and directed the comedy-thriller, working alongside a cast that includes Jessica Henwick, Mia McKenna-Bruce, and Sophie Simnett.

While promoting the film’s TIFF debut on Friday, Egerton and Schey found themselves discussing an entirely unexpected source of on-set drama: a Jack Russell terrier that reportedly made filming far more difficult than anyone anticipated. According to Schey, the dog repeatedly refused to complete one of the simplest tasks asked of any animal performer, which was simply sitting still on command.

Schey didn’t hold back describing the experience, recalling that the dog would move whenever it needed to stay in position, despite the task being about as basic as animal acting gets. He said, “It would move! All it needed to do was sit, and it wouldn’t sit,” in comments reported by The Express Tribune.

Egerton got in on the fun as well, joking about just how baffling the situation seemed given how straightforward the request actually was. He pointed out that sitting still is about the easiest thing a dog can physically do, making the animal’s repeated refusal all the more absurd from the actors’ and crew’s perspective.

Schey went even further in his review of the animal’s on-set attitude, ultimately labeling the dog a “diva” and a “nightmare” to work with throughout production. He also revealed that the same rough-coated Jack Russell had previously appeared in ‘Bridgerton’ and other productions, joking that the dog seemed to think it could simply coast through this shoot the same way it had “swanned around” past sets.

Despite all the on-set frustration, Schey credited his editing team with salvaging the animal’s performance in post-production, noting that audiences watching the finished film likely won’t have any idea just how difficult those scenes actually were to capture. That kind of editorial rescue job is a familiar story in film production whenever animal actors prove less cooperative than hoped.

The conversation eventually expanded beyond their own film, with Egerton bringing up Brad Pitt’s upcoming movie ‘Heart of the Beast,’ which also features a prominent canine performer. Egerton joked that whatever Pitt managed to accomplish working with his own dog co-star almost certainly wasn’t the chaotic experience he and Schey had just described from their own production.

That lighthearted comparison speaks to a broader, well-worn tradition in Hollywood of directors and actors swapping stories about the unpredictable nature of working with animal performers. Unlike human actors, dogs can’t be directed through conventional means, leaving filmmakers to rely heavily on patience, treats, and creative editing to get the performance they need.

‘Everybody Wants to Fuck Me’ premiered at TIFF on September 11, giving audiences their first look at both the film itself and, apparently, an unexpectedly entertaining behind-the-scenes story about its most uncooperative cast member. With the film’s TIFF debut now generating buzz on multiple fronts, Schey’s canine troubles may end up becoming just as memorable as the movie’s provocative title.

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