Movie star has kept paws on the ground

Sudden celebrity hasn't changed life much for Brodie Middleton, even though he's one of the stars of the hottest movie of 2009.

After two trips to Hollywood, where the yellow Labrador retriever worked with a trainer and shot his major scenes for the hit film "Marley & Me," and a recent publicity tour of Colorado, Brodie remains strangely unaffected. Most of his Monument neighbors don't know he's famous. Some might even call him aloof.

Brodie didn't need to adopt any radical acting techniques to step into the role of the loving but neurotic character he plays. And he has responded to his newfound fame by doing pretty much what he did before: lying around the house, eating too much and causing chaos for his family members.

About the only thing that has really changed is that people will occasionally ask Brodie for an autograph, or as his mom calls it, a "paw-tograph."

Brodie is one of eight adult dogs featured in the film.

"He's the same dumb blond dog he was before he left," says Kristy Middleton, who saw similarities between Brodie and Marley when she read the book "Marley & Me" three years ago.

"In fact, Brodie had a Marley day on Wednesday," she says. Taking advantage of an open door in the family's walk-in pantry, Brodie helped himself to a carton of chicken broth, a box of brownie mix, a bag of peanut butter M&Ms and a few candy canes left over from Christmas.

Middleton, who works as an institutional mutual fund trader for Charles Schwab, had grown up with dogs and other pets, many of which came from animal shelters.

So when she and husband Andrew began searching the Internet for a new Lab in the summer of 2001, they found the Web site for Safe Harbor Lab Rescue, a volunteer-supported organization based in Golden that places more than 200 dogs a year.

"The couple that owned him divorced and gave him up for adoption," Middleton says.

"And when I saw his photo online, looking very regal in the snow, that was it for me."

Brodie's brush with fame began when Middleton got a call from Birds and Animals Unlimited, a California company that provides animals and trainers for entertainment and advertising projects worldwide, including such movies as "Evan Almighty" and "Night at the Museum."

The company often works with shelter dogs, and had contacted Safe Harbor Lab Rescue and similar organizations in search of Labs who could portray Marley as he grows from a pup to a mature dog during the course of the film.

A trainer visited Monument in late 2006. By early 2007, Brodie was on his way to Hollywood, where he worked with a trainer. He returned to California for filming in early 2008.

When he got back home to Monument, Brodie's snout bore traces of makeup. More surprising, the time he had spent with a trainer made him somewhat more focused and obedient. But that doesn't mean he has stopped his old tricks, such as digging through the bathroom trash can or eating family members' underwear.

Middleton says she believes movies like "Marley & Me," along with books like "Dewey," about an abandoned cat that was nursed back to health by the staff of the Spencer Public Library in Iowa, always will be popular.

"People love a good story about a family that makes things work with animals, kids, jobs and all the chaos of life," she says.

In the past, movies such as "101 Dalmatians" have spawned a sudden spike in the market for featured breeds, followed by a corresponding increase in the number of abandoned animals.

Middleton hopes that "Marley & Me" will encourage people to get pets from shelters, which are trying to stretch tight budgets to deal with an influx of new animals brought about by the crisis in the housing market.

"More people are losing their homes, and this has a huge impact on animals," says Middleton, who served as volunteer president of Safe Harbor Lab Rescue from 2004 to 2007.

She's also thankful that President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to get his family's first dog from a shelter.

"This is something really important for people to consider as they think about getting a new pet," Middleton says.

DETAILS
To contact Safe Harbor Lab Rescue, visit safehar borlabrescue.org or call (303) 464-7777.