Pete Davidson and Dav Pilkey on “Dog Man”

It’s hard to believe, but as author and Illustrator Dav Pilkey recently told students at Boy’s Prep in the Bronx, he created Dog Man back when he was in second grade. “He looks a little bit different,” he said.

The kids loved hearing when someone with learning disabilities (“I had ADHD, and I was dyslexic, and I was the class clown, and I couldn’t sit still,” he said) could go on to be so successful. 

Every book in Pilkey’s Dog Man series has been the bestselling children’s book for the year it came out.

And as the new film out next week reminds us, it all started when a police officer and his dog got into a bad accident – and doctors sewed the head of the dog onto the man’s body, creating … Dog Man!

And while he’s part man, he’s all dog. “Oh, yeah, yeah. The man part doesn’t really come out that much,” Pilkey said.

But in addition to all the fun, Pilkey tries to layer meaning into the Dog Man books, even in their titles, from “The Scarlet Shedder” and “Fetch-22,” to “Lord of the Fleas,” and “A Tale of Two Kitties.” “I was looking at Charles Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ which is such a wonderful book. It talks about sacrifice, self-sacrifice, and the value of that.”

“And you hope that children will be moved to read these classics?” I asked.

“I hope so, yeah,” Pilkey replied. “I hope they don’t think ‘Oh, that Charles Dickens stole an idea from Dav Pilkey.’ That wouldn’t be so good!”

Pilkey’s sense of humor is what made director Peter Hastings want to make the “Dog Man” movie. He also directed a TV series based on Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” books. “I just love his sensibility, the playful anarchy of his work,” Hastings said.

Comedian Pete Davidson gets top billing in the film: “I’m a huge Dav Pilkey fan,” he said. “I grew up reading all the ‘Captain Underpants’ books. My mom got them for me. All the young kids in my family, they all read ‘Dog Man,’ they’re obsessed with ‘Dog Man.’ And then right around the time I started noticing that, we got the offer.”

It was an offer to play Dog Man’s nemesis, Petey the Cat. Davidson said it was fun to play the villain: “It’s a really fun, loud, layered character,” he said. “I don’t get a lot of opportunities to stretch like that.”

In fact, as readers of the “Dog Man” books know, things start to change when Petey tries to clone himself, and instead creates … an adorable kitten!

“His character has a great arc in the story,” said Hastings.

“It’s the best arc I’ve ever been given” Davidson laughed. “Usually I’m in a movie for, like, nine minutes, and then shot in the face, so it was nice to have a full [arc]!”

Asked if it’s hard for someone else to control his characters, Pilkey said, “No, no. Not at all actually. I’m just so honored that they wanted to do something with my characters, so I was like, YESSS!!! Jumping up and down.”

But Pilkey says what really matters to him is seeing how much kids appreciate all the work he puts into his books.

Asked whether he ever worries about running out of ideas, he said, “No, I think I worry about running out of time to get all of my ideas down on paper!”

 

To watch a trailer for “Dog Man,” click on the video player below:

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Story produced by Kay Lim. Editor: Remington Korper.

      
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