“Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 has been jam-packed with celebrities – whether its the introduction of Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy and Zach Galifianakis, the return of Meryl Streep or Paul Rudd, or smaller cameos from stars like Scott Bakula. But it’s also been a plentiful season for some four-legged friends.
“Working with the animals was incredible. What’s cool is you get a chance to meet them. There’s like a meet and greet before, and the handler makes sure they’re comfortable with you and you’re comfortable with them,” Michael Cyril Creighton, who portrays Howard Morris, told TheWrap. “And I was lucky that the animals seemed to be drawn to me. I thought they were all very sweet. We got along very well, good personality matches.”
One of Creighton’s animal scene partners this season is a dog named Molly, who portrays Gravey.
“She’s sort of a pro. Always hit her mark. Been there for a while. Got a little tired here and there. But she was focused,” he said.
But Sprinkles the pig proved to be more of a challenge.
“I would say the focus was a little less there. She had a humongous entourage, bigger than any star that’s been on the show,” he said. “She loved peanuts. My pockets were always filled with them so she would always jump up on my leg and you were supposed to put a peanut at the end of a hallway and then she would stop there. She tended to just eat the peanut and then look for more peanuts. They’re like, ‘You’re gonna stop here and the pig’s gonna stand next to you.’ The pig is never going to stand next to you. It’s a pig. But she was very sweet.”
Showrunner John Hoffman recalled one incident where Sprinkles wouldn’t stop screaming on set.
“It was like the devil itself was down the hall and it was screaming in this way that felt multi-layered. It was like, this needs to be in the next ‘Exorcist’ movie,” he recalled. “And it was just the pig being a little upset, but it was a noise that I was not prepared for. I didn’t realize that can happen, but that was the one kerfuffle with working with a pig. You want it happy.”
Creighton added that Sprinkles urinated on him during one scene.
“I took it as an affront,” he joked. “I did text Martin Short about that and said, ‘the pig just urinated on me.’ And he said, ‘I hate it when animals judge performances,’ which was a very Marty response. But all in all, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. How many times do you get to act with a pig in your life? So I hope she’s back next season and I welcome any and all animals.”
We’ll have to wait and see if Howard’s own podcast, Animal Jobs, drops later this season – or when “Only Murders in the Building” returns for Season 5. For now, new episodes of the comedy series stream every Tuesday on Hulu.
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