Species Overload

June 21, 2007 — -- "Evan Almighty" may not win any cinematic honors, but it did already garner one distinction it can be quite proud of -- no animals were harmed during the making of this film.

That's a big achievement given the hundreds of creatures on set in Virginia for what is considered the most expensive comedy to date, at a cost of $175 million.

In the new release, Steve Carrell stars as a congressman who talks to God and then builds an ark and saves every creature in the world. But first, they had to get the animals to get along, on set.

"You don't want to have the raccoon in a space right next to a fox; it will stress him out," explained Sandi Buck, one of 10 field monitors from the American Humane Association who made sure the animals were cared for in compliance with the group's 81 pages of guidelines for movies.

"Somebody needs to be there for the animals," Buck said.

So she was on the set taking notes on everything the animals did for the film and making sure filmmakers adhered to the guidelines that include the following:

When dogs are working with cats … the dogs must be trained and prepped to work with the cats so that the work is not stressful.

No food or beverages should be on or near the set when exotic animals are being used. Strong scents such as perfume should also be avoided.

Primates may be on set for no more than eight hours per day beginning at time of arrival.

One of the biggest challenges for the makers of "Evan Almighty" was to film the big scenes that include many animals on screen at once.

"Obviously, you never want to put a prey animal with a predator," Buck said.

That means you can't have a tiger and a hen on set at the same time without someone getting eaten.

"Each individual animal was brought into the shot all by themselves, and filmed over and over again," Buck explained.

Editors later pieced all the shots together, creating one massive menagerie as this modern-day Noah collected species for his ark.

Star Treatment

Given the careful treatment for the animals on set, some actors and members of the film crew chided Buck that the animals received better treatment than the humans on the project.

"I always tell them, 'You can quit and go home, the animals can't,'" she said.

And if a giraffe or an elephant is not in the mood to perform, they are allowed to sit out a scene.

"You are not going to make an animal do something it doesn't want to do," Buck said. "They have back-ups and understudies."

While the actors completed their scenes, they were subject to the "special charm" of the animals.

Carrell joked they had "really, really bad breath."