Don't hate the swine: Great movie pigs

By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Oink! Oink!

The Swine Flu has definitely not helped the profile of pigs lately, and they've gotten a bad rap over the years as well. Just mention the word "pig" and visions of fat, lazy creatures slumming in the mud come to mind. Calling someone a "pig" is considered a major-league slur.

But we're hog wild about the animals. Pigs are clean, intelligent critters who are easy to train and even can make good house pets. George Clooney even cried in public after his 18-year-old pot-bellied pig Max died.

And pigs have done quite nicely in literature, cartoons, TV and feature films. In fact, "Babe," the 1995 fable of a farm pig, was nominated for the best picture Oscar.

Animal trainer James P. Warren, who was a pig trainer on the 2006 film version of "Charlotte's Web" and the new comedy "College Road Trip," which opens Friday, says pigs are popular in films because they are so darned cute and photogenic. "If you look at all of those films, they tend to use the smaller pigs," he says. "They go for the cute look -- the little pug nose. I think they are so animated when they move and how they look at the camera. What they can offer is so much, it's very appealing."

And pigs are easy to train. "They are very neat and, very, very intelligent," he says. "I put them on par with a dog or even more intelligent than a dog. They pick up things very, very, very quickly."

Here's a look at some of our favorite pigs: