Watch Harrison Ford meet his CGI canine co-star in a clip from 'The Call of the Wild' (exclusive)
When the wild calls, Harrison Ford is still prepared to answer. The once and future Indiana Jones headlines a rough-and-rugged adventure based on Jack London’s classic 1903 novel, The Call of the Wild, opposite a digital dog named Buck. (Motion-capture master Terry Notary, from the new Planet of the Apes trilogy performed the role on set.) Yahoo Entertainment is premiering an exclusive clip from the film, which shows how Ford’s John Thornton first encounters the canine that will join him on a precarious trek through the Yukon tundra in search of lost treasure. (Watch the clip above.)
For the record, Thornton doesn’t begin the film as a treasure seeker — he’s more of a treasure skeptic. The actual gold hunters are a trio of interlopers from the big city: Hal (Dan Stevens), Mercedes (Karen Gillan) and Charles (Colin Woodell), who turn up in the Yukon armed with a map and an abundance of luggage. To get to the lost cabin where the gold is supposed to be, they hire out a dog team headed up by the unfortunate Buck, who had been stolen from his sunny California home and forcibly transported to the wintery north.
The overconfident Hal initially believes that commanding a dog team is as easy as saying, “Mush.” But when the canines stays put — leading Mercedes to ask, “Are they broken?” — it’s Thornton who has to give the trio pointers on how to get a sled moving. John’s expertise annoys Hal, but catches Buck’s attention, suggesting a strong connection between these two loners. And it’s a connection that will continue when they set out on their own into the wilderness, pursuing the “river of gold” that Thornton initially scoffed at. Hopefully they don’t find a temple of doom along the way.
Call of the Wild opens in theaters on Feb. 21.
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