This month, HBO is airing Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes. It’s the true story of animal scientist Temple Grandin, whose autism gave her the ability to empathize with animals, particularly cattle. Against all odds and fighting for footing in the man-centric world of cattle management, she turned her ability into a distinguished career, designing equipment that helps keep cattle calm, particularly in slaughterhouses. Currently half of all the livestock in the U.S. and Canada are handled in facilities using equipment Grandin designed.
On top of that, she’s the author of countless books and is a much sought after speaker, not only on cattle, but on her tremendous success in a non-autistic society. You can find out more about Temple in this month’s Sky magazine.
The movie is getting raves from critics, not only for Claire Danes’ amazing performance, but for the intriguing way director Mick Jackson helps viewers get into the head of a person with autism. “I knew I didn’t want to make this a story of her affliction, but of her gift,” he told me recently. “It’s such a strange and unusual gift. It’s a way of seeing the world like no one else can. That, coupled with her ability to empathize with animals is amazing, Her story demanded a work of great love and not just ‘disease of the week.’”
In learning their way around Temple, who Jackson calls “a force of nature,” the cast and crew also had to learn their way around cattle. The production bought 40 head of Angus to use in the movie, “the HBO herd,” as Jackson referred to them. “They belonged to us and they were movie stars,” he said, chuckling.
Grandin made sure to be on the set for scenes involving the animals, Jackson said. “She told me, ‘You need a boot camp for the crew; we need to tell them how to move around cattle, what to do, what not to do and where to be so you don’t upset the cattle.’ We were hyper-sensitized by the time she was through.”
A star soon emerged from the herd, Jackson said. “There was a little red cow that wasn’t supposed to do anything except stand in the background and be a cow extra. But this cow had star power.” When the cows picked for swimming scenes wouldn’t swim, the little red cow jumped in. Pretty soon, for almost every cattle scene, someone would suggest “Put in the little red cow.”
Its reward for such showmanship was going to live with the film’s cattle wrangler at the end of the shoot. The rest of the herd didn’t have it so bad, either; they’re enjoying show biz retirement at a dairy farm.
Mick Jackson is a terrific director whose credits include “The Bodyguard,” and one of my all-time favorite films, the award-winning “Live From Baghdad,” the true story of a CNN crew trapped in Baghdad during the first Gulf War.