Hollywood star Owen Wilson on what it’s really like working with children and animals in his latest film.

OWEN Wilson has made sure his latest movie is a real family affair.

Not only do the Texan actor’s parents appear in new film Marley & Me, but his Australian cattle dog Garcia also makes his debut in the feel good tale.

The film, based on the best-selling memoir by journalist John Grogan, is all about family – and dogs. It follows John and Jenny Grogan through the various stages of their life, from marriage and moving to Florida, to career promotion and childbirth.

The one constant in their relationship is a labrador called Marley, who they describe as ‘the worst dog in the world’.

He chews everything in sight, turns an obedience class into mayhem and howls like fury whenever there’s a thunderstorm.

You’d think most actors would politely decline such a script, but perhaps Owen and his co-star Jennifer Aniston had never heard the old adage about never working with children or animals.

“We grew up with dogs,” 40-year-old Owen explains.

“My family’s first dog was a Dalmatian named Nutmeg, but our main dog growing up was a chocolate brown Labrador called Blue. He could swim to the bottom of pools and retrieve golf balls, it was his special trick. He could hold his breath.”

Marley ages 13 years in the film, so 22 different labradors were needed to play him. Incredibly, none of the dogs were trained to do anything other than normal dog behaviour – and the more badly they behaved the better.

“Clyde was the main dog who played Marley and he was pretty consistent about misbehaving and doing bad stuff,” says Owen, with a cheeky glint in his blue eyes.

“He also came to the premiere in Amsterdam. They said that was Clyde, but I'm not sure...”

Owen admits it was strange having to take his cue from whatever Clyde and his colleagues did or didn’t do on screen – and often the dogs’ best takes were the one that got used in the film.

Dressed in crisp blue shirt, black jacket and jeans, with neatly trimmed designer stubble, Owen looks the picture of health and happiness.

It’s hard to believe that just over 18 months ago he was suffering from depression and recovering in hospital after an alleged suicide attempt. He withdrew from Ben Stiller’s film Tropic Thunder and asked the media to respect his privacy.

While questions about his health are off limits today, he’s happy to chat endlessly about the film.

Owen says the film’s feel good factor is responsible for its box office success when it was released in the US last year.

“It’s funny and it also has some emotion to it and I know that when Jen and I both read the script we responded to the story.

“It wasn’t like an unbelievable, crazy situation, it was all sort of grounded in reality and very relatable.”

The film – like the recent flurry of doggie movies such as Bolt, Hotel For Dogs and Beverly Hills Chihuahua – also taps into the special bond between man and his best four-legged friend.

“Way back in history, humans and dogs went ‘Ok, I kind of like these guys over here’ and we ended up domesticating dogs. But dolphins seem like they’d be great too, right?” Owen says, laughing.

“I've been around monkeys in movies a couple of times and they’re not that impressed with us. They ought to seem a little more worshipful.”

While he didn’t have to pretend to be a dog fan, Owen admits it was a little more challenging to play John Grogan, a father of three. Still, he says his lack of experience with children helped him encourage the babies to cry on cue.

“I held them like a football,” he jokes.