The Last House stars reveal the HUGE problem they had while filming *that* dog death scene

Netflix’s The Last House has plenty of brutal moments, but one scene involving the Delgado family’s elderly dog Cassidy is easily one of the hardest to watch.

The family eventually runs out of medication for the ageing golden retriever, leaving Jason with an awful decision to make. But while the scene is heartbreaking in the finished film, filming it was actually a completely different story.

So, what was the huge problem they had while filming the dog scene?

Cassidy becomes seriously ill after the family runs out of his medication, and eventually Jason (Wagner Moura) has to put the elderly dog down. The scene is made even more emotional because Ann (Greta Lee) and the children are watching their favourite film, Annie, while Jason takes Cassidy outside. As the family sings along to “Tomorrow”, a faint gunshot can be heard in the background.

So, naturally, the actors had to act as though their beloved family dog had just died. But the problem was that the real dog playing Cassidy wasn’t exactly interested in helping them out.

Greta Lee explained that the cast had to pretend to be devastated while their stunt dog kept getting back up. She told USA TODAY, “It just speaks to how incredibly absurd our job is.”

She added, “Collectively as a cast, we were having to pretend that we were grieving the death of our beloved family dog, when in reality, our stunt dog would not play dead.”

Actually, it got even more ridiculous. “I remember us crying and saying goodbye while trying to hold the dog down a little bit because he kept getting up,” Lee added, laughing. “The comic absurdity of that was wild. It was just like, ‘Yeah, this is all fake.’”

The scene was still incredibly difficult

Even though the dog was perfectly fine, Lee says filming the emotional scenes was still hard. She told Cinemablend, “I’m prepared for anything. As a dog lover myself, I understand. I mean, those scenes were so hard to shoot.”

She also pointed out that there was “a tremendous amount of movie-making magic” involved in bringing the scene to life.

Wagner Moura, who plays Jason, also admitted that the scene hit hard because he has a dog himself. “You know, I read somewhere that dogs, animals, especially dogs suffering in films are the things that people, like, really, it moves people more than human beings suffering,” he said. “And I personally have a dog, and I just love my dog. And that dog was adorable. It was a, it was a great dog. But he’s alive as well. He’s here in England.”

Cassidy’s death is very much meant to break your heart. But thankfully, the dog behind the heartbreaking performance is completely fine.

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Featured image credit: Netflix.