FIRST OFF . . .

Black extras appearing in a U.S.-produced anti-apartheid movie being shot in Zimbabwe are outraged because a dog was paid more than they were during the filming of “A Dry White Season,” a Zimbabwe newspaper said Sunday. Reportedly the dog, hired from a professional dog-handler and trainer, earned twice the $15 a day black extras were paid. But a spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe Information Department told the Associated Press that the dog did earn more than both black and white extras, “but there are some black Zimbabweans in the technical crew earning up to $4,000 a month.” The spokeswoman also said that similar rows over extras’ pay had marred previous film productions in Zimbabwe and she feared such publicity could hurt the country’s ongoing attempts to attract international film makers. MGM/UA, the film’s distributor, declined to comment on the controversy. Set during the 1976 Soweto student uprising, the film stars Donald Sutherland as a white South African schoolteacher and features Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando.