Because of pressure from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), HBO abruptly cancelled “Luck,” a new series centered around the horse racing industry. The series stars Dustin Hoffman, who also is Luck’s producer, along with David Milch and Michael Mann. Fans of “Deadwood,” will recognize Milch as the creator of that amazing show. Mann of course was the mastermind behind “Miami Vice.”
Luck’s producers did not use stock racing footage for its horse racing scenes. The series used 50 horses, trained by Matt Chew at Santa Anita. PETA claims the series used past-their-prime, out-of-shape thoroughbreds and were reportedly running them twice a day during filming. Whether that was the cause of the three horse fatalities or is not really known (the death of the third appears to have been a freak accident), but PETA has been on Luck’s back since 5-year old Outlaw Yodeler died during filming last year.
Of course plenty of animals die to feed the cast and crew on the set of most movies and TV shows and PETA is nowhere to be found, as The Onion satirized so neatly back in 2004, in its “Many Animals Harmed In Catering of Film.”
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