“It was fun having the images out there,” Riddleberger says. Two years after their viral online moment, they still feel pride about how the behind-the-scenes photos exposed their unheralded craft to the world-the light it shed on what it was like to navigate New York streets under literal pressure and turn a motionless puppet into a huge, slobbery dog. Leaning on their theatrical backgrounds, they began participating in stage productions, learned a variety of new skills (in Riddleberger’s case, engineering an equestrian on War Horse), and immersed themselves in a community that would eventually prepare them for unique cinematic endeavors-such as, of course, being the real-life stand-ins for Clifford the Big Red Dog. Rowan Magee and Jon Riddleberger started acting in college, but pivoted to puppetry after graduating. The absurd image became an object of Twitter fascination and prompted curiosity about the disguised pair of color-coordinated puppeteers who were trudging around New York City with this red apparatus on their shoulders. Shocking, hilarious, and terrifying upon first glance, the bulky, red exoskeleton functioned as a practical contraption for shooting, a useful eyeline for the movie’s young cast members, and a material placeholder for the visual effects team. Mostly, they couldn’t comprehend the more naturalistic, muddy shade of red that director Walt Becker had chosen for his big pup’s fur, an aesthetic misstep that called to mind the original-and frighteningly human-design of 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog.īut as paparazzi photos of the movie’s set emerged online around the same time, the discourse quickly pivoted to Clifford’s physical iteration: a 10-foot perforated puppet.

Not ready to see a photorealistic depiction of their favorite crimson canine, fans of Norman Bridwell’s beloved children’s books levied all kinds of hot takes about how he looked in the upcoming live-action adaptation. When the first trailer for Clifford the Big Red Dog was released last November, the internet did a double take.

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