In The Friend, Naomi Watts plays a writing instructor who is left with one of her students’s dogs, a Great Dane named Apollo, when the student, played by Bill Murray, dies by suicide. According to Variety, Watts had to have two 20-minute meetings with Bing per day in order to get comfortable with working with the 145-pound dog.
“Initially, I thought, is this necessary? I’m an animal lover. I’m not put off by a little fur and slobber,” Watts told Variety in a September 2024 interview. “He’s so gentle, but if he were to run abruptly in one direction, it could pull your arm out of its socket,” she added. Clearly, the long hours Watts and Bing spent together created a bond close enough that the actor was able to bring him along to his big movie premiere.
It’s unusual, but not unheard of, to bring a puppy-friend along for a red carpet walk. Demi Moore brings her dog, Pilaf, to basically everything, for example. The difference, of course, is that Pilaf is small enough for Moore to tuck into a large purse if necessary, while Bing weighs as much as an adult human.
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