The guy just has a way with animals

BY now, you’ve likely heard that “Evan Almighty,” with its estimated $175-million price tag, has earned the unofficial title of “most expensive comedy ever made.” But consider this: If you’re Universal Pictures and you’ve got the money, that designation has a lot more appeal than, say, “most cruel and unusual animal deaths in a movie ever made.”

That’s where animal trainer Mark Forbes comes in, not that he was responsible for eating up that budget (that honor goes largely to the special effects, including a vast flood scene). What Forbes was responsible for was the more than 40 trainers and the health and welfare of the 200-some animals needed for the “Bruce Almighty” sequel starring Steve Carell as a TV-anchor-turned-congressman-turned-modern-day-Noah after a visit from the Almighty himself (Morgan Freeman).

With its underlying themes of taking care of nature and all living things before it’s too late, “Evan Almighty” is poised to subtly tap into both latent and overt concerns about global warming when it opens June 22.

Not the least of Forbes’ task was coordinating a convoy of chartered climate-controlled airplanes and big trucks to safely transport the animals and birds from California to Virginia over five days. Once on location, the animals were housed in two specially built facilities with running water and custom designed enclosures for the giraffes, bison, raccoons, bears, baboons, alpacas, cougars, deer, otters, goats, birds and more -- all in trained pairs.

Once on set, it’s all about getting a great performance from the four-legged actors, Forbes said, and the best way is through positive reinforcement -- and finding something they love to eat.

“I can’t give them a bigger paycheck,” Forbes said. “There aren’t huge enticements like those you can give an actor. If an animal is afraid or they don’t want to do something, they just won’t do it. You sort of have to work them for dinner, but you can’t starve them because that just makes them frantic. The art of animal training is really making them feel safe, that nothing bad can happen to them.”

After a long day of coaxing and wooing jittery critters, including fast-learning porcupines with a fondness for maple twigs, Forbes said the crew liked to finish the day by shooting the seasoned Hollywood pros.

“We always left the elephants until the end of the night,” Forbes said. “Trainer Gary Johnson and [his elephants] Rosie and Dixie were incredibly smart, a joy to work with, the whole crew loved them. They were really the most professional actors we had.”

No offense to Steve Carell, of course.

-- Sheigh Crabtree