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‘Emerald City’ introduces all new Toto: Bigger, stronger, utterly adorable
Director Tarsem Singh creates an entirely new Oz for NBC’s most anticipated new series, “Emerald City,” which also means some of the most beloved characters from L. Frank Baum’s books are too getting a modern makeover. Dorothy (Adria Arjon) is older, sexier, and Latina. The Scarecrow (Oliver Jackson Cohen), even when covered in dirt and blood, is handsome enough to be People magazine’s next Sexiest Man of the Year. And of course, the special effects can’t even be compared to those in the 1939 musical.
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One can tell just by looking at the previews and photos that another main character, and perhaps one of the most beloved, is getting a whole new look in the sci-fi drama: Toto. This is a far cry from the pint-sized black Cairn terrier Judy Garland could easily carry in one arm. And he’s also quite different from artist W.W. Denslow’s original drawings of the famous dog in Baum’s books. While speaking with cast and producers of “Emerald City,” Screener was able to find all about the new bigger, stronger, still utterly adorable new German Shepherd Toto.
“They are the smartest, most well trained dogs!” Schulner jokes, before adding, “in theory.” But that’s not why they chose this breed. “It’s because of the circumstances Dorothy finds her way to Oz.” And due to filming demands, they needed to use more than one dog. And this situation created quite the drama off camera.
“There were 5 dogs,” Arjona says. “Two of them are the main ones. Oliver had his favorite dog, and then I had mine, so that was chaos. I would be like Rocky is going to be better for this, and Oliver would say Alex is going to be better — there was always a discussion, every day on the way to set. Alex was my favorite, he understood English; Rocky was Oliver’s favorite, Rocky didn’t understand Hungarian. It was always a problem.”
And why did Oliver dislike Alex? “He liked to hump Oliver,” Arjona says, which co-star Vincent D’Onforio had no idea was an issue. “That’s so gross!” he says. “I didn’t go anywhere near them.”
But of course, Toto is attached to Arjona’s hip in the TV series. “If you limped just a little bit, he would come up and hump you,” she says. “But working with Toto was a lot of fun. I definitely appreciated and loved him more off set. They were young puppies, so cute — but they did whatever they wanted!”
Producer Shaun Cassidy says the director, “Tarsem [Singh] kept saying the hardest part of shooting, was not shooting Toto’s penis. You could’ve sent a child to college with the amount money spent on those VFX,” adds showrunner David Schulner.
While this dog’s name isn’t very original — in “Emerald City”s’ world of Oz, the word “Toto” literally translates “dog” — his relationship to Dorothy and his husky new look are refreshingly new. And definitely worth all the VFX bills.
“Emerald City” airs on Friday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.