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'Clifford the Big Red Dog': Jack Whitehall reveals the slightly rude memento he wished he'd kept (exclusive)

Watch: Jack Whitehall unveils the CGI trickery of Clifford the Big Red Dog

Jack Whitehall loves taking part in big screen slapstick and he has revealed that the unique technical challenges of Clifford the Big Red Dog made the comic scenes even more fun to shoot.

Whitehall deploys an American accent for the movie as the hapless Uncle Casey, who has to deal with his niece Emily's (Darby Camp) desire to keep the unusual red puppy that secretly hopped into her backpack.

His decision becomes even harder to manage when the tiny dog grows overnight into a mammoth, crimson nuisance.

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"I love slapstick comedy and I love doing big, physical set pieces and pratfalls and really working on all of those moments in the movie," Whitehall told Yahoo Entertainment UK.

Whitehall said a particular comic scene in which he is "sprayed with a hose" did not come with a prosthetic body part to act against.

Jack Whitehall comes face to face with the enormous pooch in 'Clifford the Big Red Dog'. (Paramount Pictures/eOne)
Jack Whitehall comes face to face with the enormous pooch in 'Clifford the Big Red Dog'. (Paramount Pictures/eOne)

"I won't go into detail as to what part of Clifford's anatomy that was, but I think your mind can fill in the blanks," he said, before joking that it "would've been a great thing to steal and take home as a little souvenir from the shoot — a big souvenir indeed".

The 33-year-old comedian added: "We storyboarded them all and worked with the stunt team to work out how we could make them as funny as possible. And on the day, they were a great experience to shoot.

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"There was lots of special rigs we had to set up and various props that I had to interact with.

"There was lots of Clifford body parts they had to build, like Clifford's tail being operated by two guys from the props department and his tongue."

Darby Camp and Jack Whitehall carry out an unusual dog walk in 'Clifford the Big Red Dog'. (Paramount/eOne)
Darby Camp and Jack Whitehall carry out an unusual dog walk in 'Clifford the Big Red Dog'. (Paramount/eOne)

Often, the stereotype of shooting scenes opposite a CGI critter involves a member of the props department holding a tennis ball on a stick to get eyelines right.

But, according to Whitehall, this process was given an even more disturbing twist on the set of Clifford the Big Red Dog.

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He said: "There was a bit of tennis balls on sticks, but there was also, more disturbingly, big, red, dismembered Clifford heads on sticks.

"The scene where I first bump into Clifford and he has grown 10-feet tall and I scream was me acting opposite a grip holding Clifford's head on a pike, which was kind of terrifying. No acting was required for that reaction shot."

'Clifford the Big Red Dog'. (Paramount Pictures/eOne)
'Clifford the Big Red Dog'. (Paramount Pictures/eOne)

Whitehall said he wasn't aware quite how significant the Clifford the Big Red Dog book series is in the USA before he took on the role and was contacted by his friends in the States.

"All of a sudden I got all of these messages from my friends in America saying: 'Oh my God, this is such an important part of my childhood, you do not mess this up'," he said.

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Whitehall added: "I do remember having them read to me as a child, and I think by my dad as well.

"It always makes even the most wholesome of family books slightly sinister when you hear them through Michael Whitehall's voice for the first time. That maybe put me off them a little bit as a child."

Jack Whitehall said his father, Michael, read him the 'Clifford' books as a child. (David M. Benett/WireImage)
Jack Whitehall said his father, Michael, read him the 'Clifford' books as a child. (David M. Benett/WireImage)

The British comic also revealed that he struggled with perfecting the accent, especially in the more chaotic comedy moments.

He said: "It's very easy to prepare a scene with an American accent, but I do a lot of improv and the minute you go off-piste, all of a sudden you're doing it without a safety net.

"So that was me for the hardest thing, improvising and making stuff up in the moment and realising that I was suddenly speaking in an accent from the Deep South or I'd gone a bit Mexican. It was a challenge for sure."

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In the film, Casey and Emily have to save Clifford from the clutches of Tony Hale's sinister businessman and track down the mysterious old man (John Cleese) who introduced them to the pooch.

Clifford the Big Red Dog is in cinemas across the UK now.

Watch: Trailer for Clifford the Big Red Dog