Actors that despised their animal co-stars

The show 'Frasier' is part of television history, and so is Eddie, the dog of Frasier's father and a counterpoint to his neurotic character. However, Kelsey Grammer could not stand his canine co-star once the cameras were off.

Moose (the dog's actual name) bit John Mahoney, who played Martin Crane, "every time he sat on his lap," Grammer told TV Guide. Mahoney later clarified to Fox News that it only happened a couple of times and that it always involved incidents that had accidentally provoked the dog.

Some actors have loved working with particular animals to the point of wanting to adopt them. This is the case for Will Smith and the dog that joined him in most of the scenes in 'I Am Legend.' However, other artists have very different experiences with their furry co-stars.

Ducks, horses, snakes... The legendary series 'The Sopranos' had animals of all kinds. However, the most problematic turned out to be Cosette, the little dog owned by Adriana La Cerva - a character played by Drea de Matteo.

The actress told Yahoo TV in 2014 that the dog was difficult to work with. "There are no diva acts that can trump a dog who doesn't understand you. She was a nightmare! Biting people… she was a freaking nightmare."

During the 2012 WonderCon, Kristen Stewart said that she had to face her greatest fear when filming 'Snow White And The Huntsman:' horses. "I was really, really not happy," she confessed, according to People magazine. The actor had to endure this in most of the movie's scenes.

Stewart's fear comes from a bad childhood experience. "I broke and dislocated my elbow when I was, like, nine," she told her fans. Fortunately, she found a way to push through it: her role as Snow White was so important that she convinced herself to think, 'Alright, well, if I perish by horse, that's all good.'

Actor Lamorne Morris played Winston in the sitcom 'New Girl.' He had several scenes with a cat named 'Ferguson' that his character stole from a cheating ex-girlfriend. All the sitcom fans soon loved the relationship between Winston and his pet.

Lamorne Morris, however, was very allergic to the furry cat. The actor spoke about it in the rewatch podcast 'Welcome to Our Show,' where he explained that the producers initially didn't know he was allergic. "I'm trying to be kind to Ferguson, and you know, taking my medication, so I don't sneeze all over him," he joked.

Mathew Perry and David Schwimmer played the roles of Chandler and Ross in the iconic sitcom Friends. During the 'Friends' reunion for HBO Max in 2021, Schwimmer explained his uncomfortable moments with the two monkeys that played Marcel, Ross's pet, in season 1.

According to the actor, they had to repeat some scenes because the monkey missed the mark. When the rest of the cast members laughed about how serious Schwimmer was about the issue, more than 15 years after the show ended, he replied: "You didn't have to deal with it."

Photo: Neox

But Schwimmer was not the only one who disliked the monkey. Despite keeping it to himself during the reunion, Matthew Perry had talked about the monkey being an issue from the beginning. "The monkey also ate live worms. And then he'd vomit constantly," he told The Morning Call in 1997. "Granted, we had a brief period where Matt LeBlanc did the same thing, but he's over that now," he joked immediately after.

Matt Damon had to film with several animals for his 2011 comedy 'We bought a Zoo,' but he was terrified to interact with the snakes. His co-star, Scarlett Johansson, told People that the scariest moment during the shooting of the film was watching him "cry like a baby and rock back and forth."

Damon confirmed Johansson's words to People: "I'm afraid of snakes," he admitted. "And I got bullied into interacting with them by Scarlett and the kids," he joked, referring to co-stars Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and Elle Fanning, who were 15, 8, and 13 years old at the time.

In 'Along Came Polly,' Ben Stiller developed a sincere and terrible hatred of the film's third star: a ferret. "I was bitten by the ferret, but I didn't do anything, I swear," the actor told TV Guide.

During the promotion of the film, Stiller told E! News that he had to be checked for rabies after the bite.

In 'Young Adult,' Charlize Theron's character Mavis begins her journey towards the self-destruction of her dignity. She does so in the company of Dolce, a Pomeranian that had never made a movie before. And it showed.

The actress told Jay Leno on 'The Tonight Show' that the dog was uncontrollable. "You couldn't focus on him for two seconds. It was crazy. He was the perfect dog for Mavis (her character), but he was driving Charlize crazy."

In one of the movie's final scenes, director Jason Reitman wanted Mavis to have an emotional breakdown with the dog, but this was not possible, Theron told Empire. "That dog said, 'You know what? You're not going to get anything from me today,'" she joked.

When filming 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,' Jake Gyllenhaal had to deal with many stunts. However, what most scared him were the ostriches in the movie. The actor had to film a scene where he ran from the birds. His co-star Gemma Arterton told People that the fear he showed in that scene was real, not acting.

Gyllenhaal told People that most of his fear came from the warnings of those around him. “They would say, ‘Don’t make any noise around the ostriches. They’ll tear out your eyes and rip out your heart.’ So, I was naturally terrified,” he joked. “They look like they’re innocent, but they’re not.”

James Cordon recounted that his experience in 'Into the Woods' was somewhat tainted by Tug, the cow that played Milky White. The actor told USA Today that the bovine would interrupt Merryl Streep. "You just don't know what it's like when you're doing a scene, and Meryl Streep is giving a phenomenal performance in only the way that she can and it's scuppered by just 'Moooooooo,'" he said.

The actor and host joked about the cow being the biggest diva on set. "She would stomp off to her trailer. She'd only have a certain type of straw in the morning," he told USA Today. "It didn't change my mind about eating burgers, working with that cow," he emphasized.