Exclusive: Supergirl’s Milk-Bone collab ‘perfect’ fit for James Gunn, Jennifer Holland

It’s no secret that between the DCU’s Superman and Supergirl movies, the usage of the adorable dog Krypto proves director James Gunn and his wife Jennifer Holland’s love of dogs.

“This partnership is a match made in dog heaven,” Holland slyly quipped while speaking to ClutchPoints about the collaboration. “It’s really incredible to get to partner with Milk-Bone because James and I are such animal people. They’re such a huge part of our lives.”

As the owners of two dogs and one cat, Holland acknowledged that their pets are like their “children.” In case you’re wondering, no, they didn’t celebrate Father’s Day with their pets. They have, however, previously “written cards that are from Ozu or Lola, our dogs, or Emily, our cat, to each other in weird chicken scratch.”

Going back to the partnership between the DCU’s second movie and dog biscuit brand, Holland explained that it’s “perfect” since the “heart” of Supergirl is Kara Zor-El’s (Milly Alcock) relationship with Krypto. She has three days to save Krypto, who has been poisoned by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts).

Plus, Holland doesn’t have to fake it when promoting this product, saying, “I get to be my authentic self [and] talk about animals that I love and give them treats.”

Milk-Bone has been a consistent part of Holland’s life since childhood. Partnership aside, she remembered giving her dogs Milk-Bone biscuits growing up.

“One of the great things to give them [dogs] is these treat-hiding puzzles that they can try to figure out how to get the treat out of,” Holland said. “They just love it. It gives them something to do. You can break up the Soft & Chewy treats really easily and fit them into these little puzzle hiders. They’re so useful, and it’s my older dog and Ozu’s favorite time of the day. They just love their puzzles.”

Jennifer Holland’s “traumatizing experience” with cats

Holland has always been more of a dog person, though she loves canines and felines. Gunn has had Emily, his cat, for more than a decade. It appears all of their pets get along. Holland might’ve taken a little while to warm up to Emily, though, given her past “traumatizing experience.”

“I had some scary experiences when I was a very young child with a cat clawing me when it got a little bit overstimulated,” she explained. “That can happen to them, and I didn’t know that as a child. But then I met Emily, who has been James’ cat for 15 years, and she’s just my little baby. I love her so much.”

Her love of dogs might also be due to her own emotional needs. Holland joked, “Maybe I’m a little too needy when it comes to the amount of love that I get from my animal,” before concluding, “We can unpack that at a later date.”

How James Gunn’s love of dogs influenced the DCU’s Superman and Supergirl

Given Gunn and Holland’s love for dogs, it’s no surprise that Krypto is heavily featured in the DCU’s first movies. However, Gunn’s love for animals shows in most of his movies.

“It’s everything,” Holland said of the impact Gunn’s love for animals has on his films. “It really is one of James’ ways into telling a story — finding some sort of a connection to an animal. You can see that in the earlier films that he’s made. He’s always trying to include an animal in some way.”

Making superhero flicks comes with its own difficulties. Gunn wanted to explore the imperfections of the heroes of the DCU. Superman and Supergirl’s relationships with Krypto show that they are human, and it helps viewers relate to them.

“One of the difficult things for James about telling superhero stories is trying to make them relatable to us, because [what’s] more interesting is trying to find the ways that they aren’t perfect, [showing] that they are human in some way,” Holland reasoned. “That’s more interesting than someone who’s just perfect all the time, can do everything, can never be beat, [and] can never get hurt. One of the most relatable ways into a story for James is through an animal.”

How their ‘terrible’ dog helped Gunn break his writer’s block

Ozu was Gunn’s muse while he was “struggling” during the writing process of Superman. Superman is “so powerful, so good, so perfect, [and] he was struggling to find ways of bringing the story down to Earth, if you will.”

They had just adopted Ozu, whom Holland called a “terrible dog.” She elaborated, “He had no idea how to be a human, which is what you expect of your dog, right?”

He’d eat their cabinetry and their feet, even eating Gunn’s laptop, believe it or not. That prompted Gunn to ask the question: “What if this dog had superpowers?”

Holland’s surprising James Gunn project admission

One of Gunn’s calling cards is his needle drops. He is on par with Edgar Wright as the best contemporary filmmaker in terms of their usage of music in their projects.

Holland is closer to Gunn than anybody, so she’s likely there while he’s editing his projects, integrating his songs of choice into action scenes. She had a hard time pinpointing a favorite needle drop, but she eventually landed on something from HBO’s Peacemaker Season 2.

“Oh, gosh. I can’t think of the name of the song, but there’s a song in Peacemaker Season 2 that, ugh, has such a place in my heart. Really, the whole Peacemaker Season 2 soundtrack, I thought, was really fantastic,” she raved.

She did concede that it took her a “little while” to get into Peacemaker’s soundtrack in Season 1, explaining that it was filled with what Gunn calls “sleaze rock.” It feels “cheesy” to her, which she explained by shouting out Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo.

“It’s just like what Adebayo, the character that Danielle Brooks plays, [says]. In Season 2, she says something like, ‘It’s just a little cheesy.’ It’s kinda like Peacemaker. It’s just a little cheesy, but once you get past the parts that are cheesy, it’s actually really deep and interesting,” she said. “I had that experience going through the soundtrack of Season 1, and [with] then Season 2, I just love the soundtrack so much. I’m really into it.”

Supergirl is in theaters.

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