‘Hangover 2′ Director Gets Star Monkey Addicted To Cigarettes

3
by Michael dEstries April 16, 2011
Categories: Animals, Film/TV.

[UPDATE: Turns out Phillips was joking...]

You know that disclaimer at the end of the vast majority of films: “no animals were harmed in the making of this movie”? Chances are you won’t be seeing that in the upcoming “Hangover” sequel.

Director Todd Phillips was somehow allowed to take Crystal the capuchin monkey – who previously worked with Ben Stiller in the “Night at the Museum” films – and give her cigarettes. All because he wanted a “smoking monkey” for the film.

Phillips told Total Film magazine: “I wanted the monkey to smoke so we had to train her to. Now I have PETA after me because the monkey’s become addicted to cigarettes. She was just shooting Cameron Crowe’s movie We Bought A Zoo. And the monkey won’t stop smoking.”

Nevermind the ridiculous reality that monkey was trained to smoke – but did Phillips really not count on the power of nicotine addiction? Is this whole thing for real or just some tasteless PR joke to promote the film?


Categories: Animals, Film/TV.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
  • georgina

    What does he mean by “And the monkey won’t stop smoking.”? Who is buying Chrystal the cigarettes?
    That is disgusting. It is disgusting when so called “scientists” hook animals on cocaine and other drugs for the sake of their experiments and it is disgusting that this guy did it because he wanted a “smoking monkey” for the film. What a piece of turd Phillips is.

    Why use a real monkey anyway when CGI has come leaps and bounds for this type of situations?

  • L. Pic.

    What the fuck is up with this? Why aren’t more people outraged? Monkeys aren’t some novelty item; they are sentient, intelligent beings that should not be exploited at the whim of humans.

    Animals for entertainment should be illegal.

  • dan

    They wouldn’t give a monkey real cigarettes. I thought and i still think that the monkey was smoking a prop cigarette. Come on, you really think they will give a monkey cigarettes? Even if they do , it wouldn’t have a clue of what that is and how to ‘smoke’ it. . .
    Either special effects or prop. Def. not real cigarettes. And yes probably just a PR stunt to promote the movie (which was great).

tyson-vegan-small
« PREVIOUS POST
NEXT POST »