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Stephen King's Pet Sematary Featured Shelter Cats That Turned Into Stars

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We’re all probably familiar with Stephen King’s legendary horror stories. From The Shining to It, the stories are such a renowned global phenomenon, it’s small wonder that they’ve been adapted on screen time and time again. One of the more iconic pieces is the 1983 horror novel Pet Sematary that was turned into a horror-thriller and hit the screens in 1989. By this century, both the novel and the film are widely recognized as classics, and with the current “age of revival” where every well-known story is reshot or remade, it’s no shocker that Pet Sematary hit the silver screens once more.

Pet Sematary was released on April 5, 2019 and received mixed to average reviews. However, one thing was sure, people walked out of the theaters affected. And while some were quick to compare the 2019 remake with the original, others found a completely different venue to focus on. The feline movie stars on the screen.

After watching the new remake of Pet Sematary, some people were amazed by the feline star, Church

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: FutureSchlock

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: Paramount Pictures

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: Paramount Pictures

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: chavisthill

Turns out, the famous cat Winston “Church” Churchill was actually played by multiple cats. They were all trained to do a specific thing and excelled at it, like hissing on command, or staring, or running very fast. Three of the adorable cats actually have Instagram pages and are hiking up followers to boost their careers as aspiring cat actors. JD, Tonic, and Leo were the three biggest stars and made the reanimated feline truly memorable (Tonic made his mark by playing the cutesy cat at the beginning of the movie, while Leo is the striking uncanny kitty in the poster).

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Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: church_aka_tonic

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: Paramount Pictures

The director later revealed in the interviews that all of the cats that portrayed Church were actually adopted from animal shelters. When the production team decided on Maine Coon cats for the show, they started looking through various shelters and rescue organizations and ended up with over 5 cats. After all of the felines were collected, cat training program went for 2 months to teach them specific tasks, which proved to be a successful mission as all the kitties shone in their specific roles.

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: Paramount Pictures

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Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

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Image credits: church_aka_tonic

The production team also revealed that some of these intelligent animals (like the stunning Leo) had to spend some time in the makeup chair. Why? Well, to look disheveled and.. um.. undead, the cats’ fur had to be covered in chalk and edible gunk, so it would be safe to ingest in case some licking happened.

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: church_aka_leo

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: church_aka_jd

After the filming wrapped, the team found all the participating cats a new home. Unfortunately, after the movie premiered, Leo’s handler Kirk Jarett shared some heartbreaking news. Leo passed away from feline arterial thromboembolism, also known as saddle thrombus, a condition that’s not rare among Maine Coons. Jarett’s message on Instagram said, “It is with deep sadness that we tell you that Leo has passed away. He will be forever missed by his human and fur family. May his star always shine bright!”

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Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: church_aka_tonic

One person dug deeper to reveal some juicy details

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: FutureSchlock

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: FutureSchlock

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: church_aka_tonic

Here’s how people responded to the details about the cat actors

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: davelosso

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

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Image credits: Anne_Hogan

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

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Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: Amy_I_Wight

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Remake Had Cats From Shelters Who Were Trained To Become Cat Actors

Image credits: stanswinfilm

RELATED:

You can get a glimpse of the kitties in action in this movie trailer

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Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

What do you think ?

elfin 5 years ago

I don't think that dirtying up a cat would be nearly as difficult and dangerous as washing the cat afterwards.

33points

Janine B. 5 years ago

Bwahahaha! My thoughts exactly.

5points

Load More Replies...

ThatOnePanda 5 years ago

I don't think it's necessary at all to wash cats, but still it's good to make your cat somewhat used to it. If they got dirty in any way, it would be so much easier to clean them, for themselves too. Indoor cats can have accidents too, I know one who got in the toilet bowl when someone was pissing in it

0points

debrina blackmoon 5 years ago

i'm going to leave bathing our not-so-little bobtail to hubs now, since i can't control her as much and she is too big for the kitchen sink

0points

spirit wolf 5 years ago

I mean...all my cats are very very talented actors too. They always act like they've never been fed besides the fact that they are all chubby and often looked out the window with great remorse much to the dismay of passersby.

18points

Taryn Wallace 5 years ago

I would like to throw my name in the right g to be a cat handler on movies... I will also take any job that involves dirtying, washing,and making red carpet ready.... please feel free to contact me

3points

Load More Comments

elfin 5 years ago

I don't think that dirtying up a cat would be nearly as difficult and dangerous as washing the cat afterwards.

33points

Janine B. 5 years ago

Bwahahaha! My thoughts exactly.

5points

Load More Replies...

ThatOnePanda 5 years ago

I don't think it's necessary at all to wash cats, but still it's good to make your cat somewhat used to it. If they got dirty in any way, it would be so much easier to clean them, for themselves too. Indoor cats can have accidents too, I know one who got in the toilet bowl when someone was pissing in it

0points

debrina blackmoon 5 years ago

i'm going to leave bathing our not-so-little bobtail to hubs now, since i can't control her as much and she is too big for the kitchen sink

0points

spirit wolf 5 years ago

I mean...all my cats are very very talented actors too. They always act like they've never been fed besides the fact that they are all chubby and often looked out the window with great remorse much to the dismay of passersby.

18points

Taryn Wallace 5 years ago

I would like to throw my name in the right g to be a cat handler on movies... I will also take any job that involves dirtying, washing,and making red carpet ready.... please feel free to contact me

3points

Load More Comments

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