It turns out movie stars sometimes need sheep coaches.

Sheep now appearing in Hollywood film The Sheep Detectives had their mouths recorded so their on-screen movements could be made as accurate as possible, according to Elizabeth Miller, who runs Miller’s Ark Animals in Hook, Hampshire.

Miller said the filmmakers recorded about 40 of her animals for the film, but she did not at first realise they were making a movie starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson.

“The producer and director came here and had a look around and chose the sheep they absolutely wanted for the film, which was very exciting and we were delighted,” Miller told BBC Radio Berkshire.

“They went away and said ‘yep, you’re the farm we’ll use for 30 to 40 of the characters’.”

“…I had no idea of what the film was, that it was this big, this exciting.”

Miller said she helped point directors towards the farm’s different “personalities” when they were choosing animals.

“…when they said they wanted a kind of intelligent one, they wanted one that was a bit daft, we said this breed is very intelligent, this breed is a bit daft. And it all fell into place.

“The first tranche of filming was with lots and lots of cameras. They bought a very special dome of hundreds of cameras from Pinewood [Studios] so they could really get every part of the sheep.

“Then they did individual filming… to see how their mouths moved.

“It was incredible, the detail that they went into to get absolutely how sheep move and behave.”

Some of the sheep from Miller’s farm have previously appeared in Eastenders and the 2022 film Lovely Little Farm.

Other sheep used in the film include Nobby, a Norfolk Horn ram from Williton, Somerset.

Jackman, who plays farmer George in the film, did not visit the farm during filming but later met the sheep.

“He was really lovely and was really comfortable with the sheep, which was nice to see,” Miller added.

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