lnnO VfE S" a, a y *,. " . *:1 " K IQ;?**, ly_l fsu._d#*€*o*" q+q*.f, *Ef *?T"*T"*'T?* r'5&,!iri"G_t.i-r a +=rq.iL,r_|:*;q?qi^a.b*,r di,'!-! 'DOG' DAY AFTERNOON A pooch lover seeks solace in Mike White's film By MTcHAEL crLrz a few days of feeling down, shouldn't she be ready to get back to work? But writer-director Mike White wants to treat Peggiy's pain - and the fact she devotes her life to animals - seriouslv. "It's fun havingcharacters that are-of- ten the butt of thejoke being front-and- center," says White, 36, who wrote and starred in the similarly off-center indie "Chuck & Buck," as well as writing for the cult TV show "Freaks and Geeks" and the films "Orange County," "The Good Girl," "School of Rock" and "Nacho Libre." "Their problems and their frustra- tions [often] aren't taken seriously.</p><p> But also women - there are so many funny comediennes, and they're always given short shrift.</p><p> It's fun to use whatever mojo you have to try and give somebody else a chance, and try to make something for people who aren't always [appreciated] in movies, particularly comedies. " But using that mojo also means put- ting yourself out there more.</p><p> White says that "Dog," his first directing gig, was a lot more fun than he expected, thanks to ac- tors like John C.</p><p> Reilly, Laura Dem and Shannon, a "Saturday Night Live" vet who White worked with on his own short-lived series, "Cracking Up." But eventually, he says he got tired of being the decider. "At some points, I felt like I could not make one more decision," says White. "Literally: 'I do not care whether she's wearing the flower print skirt or the plaid skirt.'But, no, I'm the director.</p><p> It should be all about wanting to make sure the prints on the skirt are excctly what my vision is.</p><p> But sometimes I just couldn't pretend that I gave a flip."HUI{G UP Molly Shannon plays a perky pet lover whose beloved canine dies.</p><p> While he owns two dogs and two cats, White says he's not an animal-rights fa- natic.</p><p> The movie, after all, isn't about join- ing PETA so much as taking seriously the people who find their passion in some- thing other than the typical, proscribed paths.</p><p> And the carnivore film crew - "[They've] gotta have ribs at least once a week," laughs White - kept things from getting sentimental.</p><p> But even they were swayed by a scene at an animal shelte4 where Pegg5r suddenly insists on adopting every dog scheduled to be put to sleep. "That was actually a working shelter," says White, "and there were in fact many dogs that got adopted that dayby'hard- headed' crew members." I
