Is The Pig In Nicolas Cage's New Movie 'Pig' Real?

The much anticipated film "Pig" starring Nicolas Cage has been getting a lot of buzz lately. It's a movie of action and intrigue set around an unexpected premise: The theft of a beloved truffle pig (via IMDB). Cage's character Rob, a renowned chef turned reclusive truffle forager, is forced back to the world he left behind to track down his beloved truffle-hunting swine. In the movie trailer, the scenes shift from a dark forest that looks straight out of Grimm's fairy tales to the bustling restaurant scene of Portland, Oregon, where the tormented Rob asks, "Who has my pig?" 

According to Eater, that movie trailer has fans asking questions of their own, including: Is Cage's on-screen animal companion a real pig? A fair question, since the few moments with the pig in the trailer are dim and moody. And given the special effects wonder that is CGI with which, according to Insider, video effects artists turn humans into "Cats" cats, and de-age actors into decades-younger versions of themselves, simply adding a pig to a few movie scenes would be a breeze. But here's the truth, as confirmed by GQ: The pig is real, and Nicolas Cage loved working with her. 

Whether or not all actors feel this way, it's an oft-repeated bit of advice in the entertainment industry to "never work with children or animals." (via Barry Popik). However, clearly this wasn't the feeling on the set of "Pig". In an interview with GQ , Nicolas Cage said that his experience sharing the screen with a real pig, whose name is Brandy, was a pleasure. "I enjoyed working with her, I love working with animals." While the Oscar-winning actor found Brandy to be a fascinating co-star, she showed little interest in him — unless he had her favorite veggies on hand. "She was interested in food really and food only, understandably. She wasn't that interested in people and I get that," Cage told GQ.

That deeply focused interest in food is something that Cage himself understands very well. Cage shared with GQ some of his earliest food memories, like learning from his father how to pair wine with different foods — even a pairing as unlikely as champagne with KFC!  Cage also shared his deep admiration of professional chefs and the culinary world in general. During the pandemic quarantine, one of the things Cage says he missed the most was dining out and meeting chefs. "I thought that [the role of] Rob was a good part for me because of my genuine regard for chefs and what they can accomplish. I put chefs at a very high level in the realm of art."