As great as it was to meet David Corenswet’s Superman in the DC Universe last month, I think most, if not all of us can agree that Krypto was the scene stealer of James Gunn’s 2025 movie. The adorable Kryptonian pup had already melted hearts when the first Superman trailer was released last December, and the first of the DCU’s movies only confirmed what a good boy he is… well, really more the “worst dog in the world with superpowers.” Those who followed along with the Superman news cycle know that this version of Krypto was modeled after Gunn’s own dog, but CinemaBlend learned that there’s more to this story.
James Gunn has been candid since last year about how Krypto’s look and personality was based off Ozu, who “came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs & never knew human beings,” resulting in him destroying the filmmaker’s home, shoes, furniture and even his laptop. However, in addition to discussing Superman’s epic superhero mural, production designer Beth Mickle also revealed that that there’s another dog who was integral to bringing Krypto to life. She started off by saying:
James' dog Ozu is the model, is the base for him, and visual effects did such a brilliant job with him. We also had a wonderful dog named Jolene who had the right hair color; and we would bring her out, and she was so sweet. She would come out, and she'd do a little twirl, and she had the great kind of white, curly hair. Our wonderful sound and playback guys would play Dolly Parton's ‘Jolene’ every time she came out. It was the funniest little array.
Yes, while Ozu is the primary inspiration for Superman’s Krypto, his fur color is a mixture of black and a lighter brown. That’s where Jolene came into the picture, as her white fur was a good reference point for when cameras were rolling on set. Beth Mickle went on to describe what this process entailed as one of Dolly Parton’s greatest hits would play:
I know photos exist of it somewhere, but after you shoot a scene, you do a ‘balls and charts pass,’ where you come out and you have your ball that has reflectivity on it, just to see the mirror. You have charts that show the color charts. So technicians come out and hold these things up, so they would all come out and they'd hold up their charts and their reflective balls and Jolene, and they'd all dance around to Dolly Parton's ‘Jolene.’ And it was the best, it made us laugh every time. It happened every day. It was always a real joy.
I’m glad Jolene is getting the credit she deserves, and that the public knows what a good girl she is. Now I’m wondering if she was also present during the filming of Supergirl, which arrives on the 2026 movies schedule next summer. Krypto will be tagging along with Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El in the upcoming DC movie after she retrieved him at the end of Superman, so surely a white dog was also needed on set for that “balls and charts” test.
Hopefully that will be brought up when the Supergirl press tour gets going. Until then, in addition to Superman still playing in theaters, it's now available on digital, and the physical media release follows on September 23.
