Kangaroo Jack (2003)

Physical contact between the actors and their all-too-real camel costars, however, proved far from smooth.

The intricacies of kangaroo wrangling, whether live or CGI, paled in comparison to handling camels. Camels, the cast and crew soon learned, can be docile, reliable and tireless – when they feel like it. Most of the time they’re temperamental and obstinate. But it wasn’t their personalities that were the problem. Unanimously, the cast and crew had the same complaint about these beasts of burden: they smell. Boy, do they smell!

Casting all subtlety aside, Jerry O’Connell states, "Camels are the worst-smelling animals on the face of the earth. They are disgusting. People talk about how filthy the New York City subway system is. Well, the New York City subway smells like a dozen roses compared to what camels smell like. It’s unbelievable."

Of course, O’Connell might be a bit biased since the particular camel assigned as his mount during production, a charming creature named K.B., spat copiously on him at their first introduction.

Anthony Anderson fared little better. "Baby, which was my camel, tried to buck me off a couple of times. Fortunately, they had trained us prior to shooting so I was able to handle him. One thing I did learn, though, was that camels kick in all directions at any given moment." Anderson’s advice to those considering an Australian Outback holiday? "Never ride behind a camel. You will inhale fumes that are just unimaginably inhumane. That’s all I’m going to say."

In addition to the working camels that O’Connell, Anderson and Warren rode most days, the production also utilized animatronic camels, and some highly prized racing camels trained in Alice Springs and sold to the royal family in Saudi Arabia. "We were very fortunate to find those racing camels," remarks Waldman. "The trained camels we used every day didn’t really go very fast but they were the right speed for our cast. So they and the animatronic camels enabled us to get some great close-ups, but the racing camels ridden by body doubles – we used actual camel jockeys – were vital for the big wide shots where we can really see the camels sprinting along the terrain."

Crafted by Neal Scanlan Studio Limited, the animatronic camels are life-sized legless replicas that were mounted to a vehicle, which then bumped and raced across the desert. Crew members lying on a truck bed beneath the actors manipulated dollies to move the mechanical creatures back and forth in a credible loping motion that flawlessly mimicked the movements of the actors riding live camels.

Anderson jokes that ten guys were needed to rock him back and forth on the phony camel, compared to only six who worked with O’Connell. "Those guys got quite a workout, so I had to buy them all drinks that night."

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