https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btISdqq8_DU
James Wolk has worked with real live lions and tigers on CBS’s Zoo and tonight at 9p he works with with his hardest animal yet.
When I recently asked him at the CBS Studios Summer Press Day which animal he was scared to work with most, without hesitation he told me, “The bear, an 800 pound brown Kodiak bear.“ He explained, “We were about three inches away from a brown 800 pound Kodiak bear. So even with precautions, even with the trainers and the safety and all of that, it is still a bear. You still have that feeling of your heart beating and your palms sweating and rightfully so.” If you are that close to bear, you can smell it. He described the odor as, “They have a very particular smell. It is a smell that I have never smelled before because I have never been that close to a bear before. But it is a very specific.”
So if you are going to work that closely with live animals, what warning is given to the actors by the trainers? He revealed that they each had their different mandates, “For bears, it was don’t look them in the eye. For horses, it is like get close to them, get comfortable with them, so that they are comfortable with you.†Then he added, “I feel fortunate because I wouldn’t be that close to this animals in real life if it wasn’t for the show.”
Tune in tonight to watch him and the other actors work with a real live bear and see if you can notice the terror in their eyes.
