Celebrating the release of the wilderness adventure film AGAINST THE WILD on DVD, we sat down with the young stars, CJ Adams and Erin Pitt, along with movie star dog Houston to chat about the movie, working alongside animals, pranks on set, and much more!
Can you tell us a bit about what Against the Wild is about?
Erin: It’s about this family, there’s some tension between the parents, and the kids go visit their dad on a plane, and the plane crashes. Something’s wrong with the pilot so they go out to find help, but they end up not knowing where they are, so they have to fight against nature and try and survive.
What was the coolest experience you had making this movie?
CJ: Working with the grizzly bear was pretty cool, that was the first time I saw a grizzly bear like 10 feet away from me.
Erin: I’ve worked outside before, but not with scary animals! The bear wasn’t actually that scary, it was mostly the wolves.
What was it like to shoot on location in the wilderness?
CJ: IT was the first movie I ever did in the woods, but it was really cool and fun to just see the scenery.
Did you have fun working with Houston?
Erin: He’s a very sweet dog, but he likes to chase squirrels. One time he ran off to chase squirrels for like an hour and a half. We almost had to take him out of the scene. The trainers were out looking for him. Finally he wandered back and CJ’s like “Is that Houston?”, and we had to call the trainers on their headset that we found him.
Did you learn any cool wilderness tips from making Against the Wild?
CJ: There was one time we built a fort under a rock, and this survival guy told us “that’s a really nice fort that you’d actually want to live in if you were in the wilderness because it’s a great shelter, and you could make a fire.”
Erin: If you have water, don’t waste it! You may not be able to find a lake or find any water soon.
Which one of you two would be better at living in the wilderness?
Erin: I probably wouldn’t do so well.
CJ: I took boy scouts so—
You two seemed very natural as siblings – you’d fight a lot but still work together and love each other. Do you get along with your siblings at home?
Erin: I have lots of siblings, including twin little brothers. We get along, but they like to bug me.
CJ: I have one brother, he’s 16 now. He’s…*sigh*. But he’s still my brother, so you know.
What was the hardest scene you had to film?
CJ: Trying to catch a salmon was pretty hard. When they were falling out of my hands, that was legit happening.
Erin: The hardest one for me was trying to get Houston to save me from the water, because it was so cold so he wanted out that water. I literally had to grab him. They threw a tree in so he’d jump in, then I’d have to swim close and grab onto him.
What was it like working with so many different animals?
CJ: The grizzly bear seemed really friendly from the way it looked, but obviously it didn’t because it broke a tree down on top of a car.
Erin: It was literally grabbing a tree and smacking it down on its cage. It was like wow, that’s scary!
CJ: The wolves were really creepy. They were really bony.
Erin: They looked very wild. The bear looked really friendly like a teddy bear, but the wolves had an evil look in their eye. The raccoon was so fat and so cute!
What do you hope the kids that get to see your movie take out of it?
Erin: Probably that although brothers and sisters fight, the best thing to do is come together and work as a team. In emergencies you have to work together and you can achieve something great.
Did either of you pull any funny practical jokes on each other on set?
CJ: Probably our main prank was we convinced our parents we needed sugar cubes for our science project, but really we just wanted to eat them.
Erin: They were out shopping for food for our rooms, and CJ had a sugar cube with his milk, and then he’s like, “let’s get them to buy some sugar cubes, say its for a science project!” We also hid from our tutor once.
CJ: There was one time when our Assistant Director was taking care of me, so she was trying to find me, and she didn’t notice but I was standing on top of the RV with my hands outstretched.
Erin: Literally like on top of the entire trailer.
If you were stranded in the wild, what are 3 items you’d want with you?
CJ: Food, water and atmosphere.
Erin: I would say a water purifier filter so you can filter your water, some food, and my phone to call someone to save me. Or at least to play Candy Crush.
Thank you CJ, Erin & Houston!
Houston: Woof!