Puppy love

Brad Pitt and David Ayer during the San Sebastian Film Festival press conference Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Gari Garaialde

Brad Pitt was at San Sebastian Film Festival this week for the European premiere of survival drama Heart Of The Beast. It follows a retired special forces officer (Pitt), who finds himself stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with his faithful service dog Odin and the pair try to make their way back.

The star says he "bonded really quickly" with the New Zealand dog Uber, who played Odin. Uber was, according to Pitt "not a prima donna" despite being first on the call sheet and having his own make-up, truck and wardrobe. He added: "Yes, it's a survival story, but ultimately underneath it. It's a love story."

Pitt also said that Ayer's plan of attack was: "Whatever the dog does, we're gonna follow it."

He added: "We tried to make every day a play day for him. There were times he would do things that were just amazing that were not in the script that you see in the film and his expressions really moved me.

Brad Pitt in San Sebastian, working with a dog was 'really kind of wonderful' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Gari Garaialde

"At the same time, there were days when the bees were buzzing and possums were coming down the hill and things were just much more interesting in the woods than what's going on here, so I had to be pretty adept at being actor/dog trainer/actor/slash dog trainer in the middle of a scene."

One of the secrets to success was having chicken in his pocket as a dog treat. "I can't smell boiled chicken to this day!" Pitt added, laughing.

Speaking about the shoot in New Zealand, he added: “We're out in this beautiful location. Okay, we're wet. We're cold 12 hours a day. We don't have trailers. We're sitting out on logs but everyone's kind of up for the task and being out there with this beautiful beast was pretty kind of special.

Pitt's Plan B company produced the movie and the star was upbeat about the state of independent film.

“I think the current setup has actually been really conducive to independent cinema in a really cool way, because more eyes are getting on these projects."

Ayer added: “There’s new pipelines of discovery out there. We have people coming in off YouTube or the internet, which has always sort of been held to the side, but now we’re seeing what I believe may be the ascent of it as we find filmmakers in that space”

Pitt also noted that since his last visit to San Sebastian Film Festival 17 years ago “there's been massive changes with the streaming industry and the consolidation of studios”.

He added: “What streaming has brought to us is that we get so many more opportunities for writers, directors, crews and because of that we have a greater plethora of really interesting stories and really interesting talent and that's been amazing.”

Brad Pitt signs autographsy in San Sebastian Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Ulises Proust

He was also positive about a return to the communal experience of cinema. He also noted he was glad that middle budget movies – which he described as $60-80million – seemed to be having a comeback after having a dip because “it is very difficult for the studios to recoup that kind of budget”.

He said post-production prices are now dropping and added: “I’m hoping those movies still have a life because they tend to be where I end up.”

Heart Of The Beast is released in the US and UK on Friday, September 25