Rob Mentions in the 'Water for Elephants' DVD Commentary


Here are the Rob mentions and highlights of the DVD commentary with director, Francis Lawrence, and screenwriter, Richard LaGravenese. Since its spoilerish, its all under the CUT.
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They were all crying off camera during Hal's scene because his wife had passed away just months before and that broke their hearts.

Initially they wanted Hal to do all the voice over but then thought it would distance from the character and decided to try Rob's voice and really liked the result.

The moment with the girl at the college was a in between takes moment. She was so nervous around Rob that they tricked her. She was actually flirting with Rob off camera.

They say Rob has a method to start sweating and go all pale but they won't reveal.

Rob's mom in the movie also acted as his Polish coach. And the father lied in the audition. He was not Polish, he was Russian!
Rob did his own stunt running alongside the track and catching the train. Francis was really nervous because if something got wrong it could be really awful.

Rob learned a Polish song that he sung in the forest but they cut that part out. He picked up the Polish really quick. He didn't need much practice to sound convincing.

They changed the landscape digitally they took out the California mountains to add the little town that the circus is supposed to be.
Rodrigo put a light too close to the tent that it set the tent on fire. They all had to evacuate the tent.
They didn't use a orangutan because PETA didn't let them use any monkeys. So he thinks the giraffe scene it's a substitute for that.

The black horses were fighting each other all the time. They couldn't put them next to each other on the scene or hell would break loose.

Major is the name of the lion. He's a really crabby lion and a very good actor because it looks [like] he knows where the camera is. He actually has teeth so they had to digitally remove them.

When Reese is with Silver Star in the train car, they ran out of time to shoot Rob's close up, so they did it 2 months later when Reese had already wrapped. Rob is talking to a television playing the take at the floor of the train car.

Again, Rob did his own stunt when he's almost thrown out of the train. It was not so fast as it appears to be but it was a moving train.

Tai's trainer said to them that they all would think that they had a relationship with her but for her the actors were just props. They don't believe the trainer. They are sure Tai fell in love with Rob. They say that because she followed Rob around even when he didn't have any treats in his pockets.

They had to cut out a bit when they explained August's background. He was abandoned in a circus when he was 9 years old. Francis is really sorry they had to cut that out.
Francis thinks Rob does a good drunk.
He thinks it's great to see Rob smile a lot in this movie.

LaGravenese think its because he was happy he didn't have to put yellow contacts in his eyes.

Queenie's real name is Uggie and he is a boy. He would get tired on the shoots, fall sleep and start to snore. Francis had to wake him up because he was messing with the sound.

The didn't use an actual bull hook. It was a stick with a green ball at the end and then they add the hook digitally. Her hurts were added in post too.

We are in the first kiss scene and Francis talks about the paparazzi that really bothered him that night.
Francis kids are on the parade, his two boys.

They say Rob was a really good sport about everything. He never complained about a thing. He was always in a great mood.

They are talking about Rob being sick and they think it was very funny. And the fact that Francis was all the time saying things like "ok, now grab her leg. Strap, strap, strap. Put her dress down. Reese, go for his belt" Their point is that in the day didn't sound romantic at all.

LaGravenese was having dinner with someone that saw the movie and was saying how amazing is the relationship that Rob has with the camera. He's one of those actors, like old-time stars in the 30's. The camera loves him. And the guy said to him "He looked even better when he was beaten up".

About the stampede: the animals are all real but they were shot separately with green screens.
Audience wanted to know how was their life in the circus. How happy they were. They justify the re-shoots and they say again how emotional was for Hal to shoot these scenes because of his wife.