New Movie: ‘The Lucky One’ starring Zac Efron

The Lucky One, based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller of the same name, stars Zac Efron and prompts viewers to ponder whether things happen for a reason. Efron plays U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault serving his third tour of duty in Iraq. The movie opens with a grenade explosion that Logan survives only because he had bent down in the sand and rubble after noticing a photo of a beautiful woman (played by Taylor Schilling from the TV series Mercy).

When Logan returns to America he is reunited with his dog Zeus, played by Rowdy, a six-year-old German Shepherd owned by animal trainer Boone Narr. Emotionally scarred by the war and directionless, Logan becomes obsessed with finding the woman in the picture, whose name is Beth, to thank her for saving his life.
There’s a lighthouse in the background of the photo that leads Logan and his dog Zeus from Colorado to a small town in Louisiana. The movie, The Lucky One, is directed by Academy-Award nominee, Scott Hicks (Shine) and the musical score was composed by Oscar nominee Mark Isham (A River Runs Through It).It stars the lovable Blythe Danner as Ellie, Beth’s grandmother.
Ellie and Beth run a dog kennel. Animal trainer Narr provided the dogs for the movie including Dexter, a Black Labrador that Narr rescued from a shelter three weeks before filming. “Dexter turned out to be a great actor and landed the star role in a new Purina Beneful dog food commercial,” said Narr who, with two of his animal trainers, drove from L.A. to New Orleans in a trailer with 15 varieties of dogs. The largest was an Anatolian Shepherd (160 pounds); the smallest, a Chihuahua mix (7 pounds). In addition to the German Shepherd and Black Lab, other breeds in the movie included a Bulldog, Rottweiler, Swedish Valhund, Westie and Golden Retriever.
If you love seeing dogs in movies, and if you’re the romantic type who cried atThe Notebook, (also written by Sparks), you’ll be very touched by this story. Beth is a divorced mom. Her ex is the town sheriff, played by Jay R. Ferguson, who is creepy, jealous, and mean. It’s adorable watching Beth’s seven-year-old son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) bonding with Logan over chess games, playing the violin and magic tricks.  Stewart said, “Learning to play violin was difficult but my favorite thing was learning magic routines.”
I’d never seen what the big whoop about Zac Efron was. Now I sure do. He’s hot. To play a Marine he transformed himself physically through months of rigorous training, a strict diet that added pounds of bulk, and a buzz cut to his signature hair. His internal work was just as demanding. To get into character, Efron talked to Marines. “It was like stepping into a different world. This is my generation, on the front lines. They’ve experienced gruesome things,” said Efron whose acting successfully conveyed the psychic trauma of war.
My favorite parts were watching Efron’s muscles as he bathed, fed and horsed around with Beth’s kennel dogs. Playing experienced dog trainers meant Schilling and Danner had to learn how to handle the dogs.  Schilling also had to become adept at jogging with many dogs at a time. “It may look easy but they are big, and they will take you down!” Schilling said. “I think I became part of the pack the day we all ended up in the pond by accident.”
The Lucky One opens in theaters Friday, April 20, 2012. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes.