If you've ever so much as had a pet, you've provably had "that pet," the one that was special above all the others and that meant more to you than many humans you knew well. It's a fact of life that we're going to say goodbye to those loving pets. We all know it. But that doesn't make doing so any easier, or any less important. Director James Gunn recently had to say goodbye to his dog, and it was so important to him that he shut down production on a film and flew a few thousand miles in order to do it.
Yesterday James Gunn posted pictures of his dog to Instagram with a heartfelt remembrance of the pet who recently had to say goodbye. The dog had the glorious name of Dr. Wesley Von Spears, and Gunn relates that last week he flew from The Suicide Squad's production location in Panama back home back home in order to be with his dog and hold him as he went. Read Gunn's heartfelt words below.
It's never easy saying goodbye to a pet, but it certainly would have been that much harder having to say goodbye alone, 4,000 miles away from the pet. As frequently as we see Hollywood as a massive, impersonal machine, it's certainly nice to see everybody involved willing to pause a major, expensive, blockbuster production so that James Gunn could spend time with his dog. It's incredibly lovely to know that so many people, including at Warner Bros., were willing to let the movie go so that the director could take care of this part of his family.
It sounds like the two were inseparable. Gunn says he took Von Spears with him to many film sets. It seems likely that if Von Spears had been younger he may have traveled to Panama himself to be with Gunn. The collection of images that show off James Gunn's dog include several of him on movie sets, including a lovely image with Wesley and Michael Rooker in full Yondu makeup for one of the Guardians of the Galaxy films.
The outpouring of support from friends and fans on Instagram has been massive. Many of the stars that actually knew Wesley, like Karen Gillan, Seth Green, and Steve Agee, sent their love. It's clear that the dog touched more lives than just that of his owner.
At 17-years-old, Dr. Wesley Von Spears wasn't a young dog, and while those extra years just have a way of getting them into your heart that much more, it can also give one some peace that they lived a full life. And this dog got to visit some pretty incredible movie sets during his.
James Gunn has now wrapped production of The Suicide Squad in Panama and while he says filming isn't entirely finished yet, that day is very close. Perhaps the new movie can be dedicated to Dr. Wesley Von Spears.
