Disney’s Lady And The Tramp Star Was A Shelter Dog

Animated Lady and the tramp

While Disney's big remakes have been setting box office records this year, the studio's next remake won't be on the big screen, but rather the small one. Lady and the Tramp will be the next live-action remake when it arrives on Disney+ on November 12, and, as it turns out, the movie is much more live-action than people may have suspected, because the movie uses actual dogs and not CGI recreations.

Not only that, but the dog that will play the role of Tramp, even has a backstory that's perfect for his role, as it turns out he came from a shelter.

THe dog who will play the role of Tramp, and be voiced by Justin Theroux, is actually named Monte, and he was found in animal shelter in Phoenix according to AZCentral.com. Heather Allen, president of HALO Animal Rescue in Phoenix, says Monte was adopted last year and while the staff knew it had something to do with Hollywood, everything was being kept extra quiet...

He was adopted from us in April of 2018, and we knew that the people that were meeting with him were considering him to be a Hollywood star, but we didn’t know for what, because it was top secret.

The remake of Lady and the Tramp was announced following news the release of The Jungle Book and the news that The Lion King was going to be remade using similar CGI animation. Many likely assumed, i was certainly one who did, that Lady and the Tramp would use a similar process and not actually use real animals. Simba had a reference lion for the new Lion King, but no real animals appear in the film.

Whether this was a creative decision, or simply a financial one, this movie decided to go with real animals. This had the nice benefit of rescuing many different animals to play the various roles, all of whom have reportedly now been adopted.

For his part, Monte seems quite perfect for Hollywood. While he may have been living in shelters for sometime, he has always worked well with people. Allen continues...

When he arrived at the shelter he was super friendly, he greets people right away, he gives kisses, he loves attention, he knows ‘sit’ and he knows how to walk well on a leash.

We've had a chance to see the animals that play the roles in Lady and the Tramp, but the movie itself is still largely being kept secret. No trailer has been released, even though the movie is less than three months away. It has been confirmed that Lady and the Tramp will be a launch day movie for the Disney+ streaming service when it arrives November 12.

With Disney's D23 Expo happening this weekend, and a major panel being dedicated to Disney+, I would expect to get our first look at Lady and the Tramp there. Alongside The Mandalorian, it's one of the major original releases at launch, so it will probably get a lot of attention.

Lady and the Tramp is a piece of classic Disney animation that i don't think gets quite enough credit for how good it is. Hopefully the remake will remind people of the original, and also be great on its own.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.