The Goodest Boy in Hustlers Is Manhattan the Chihuahua

Hustlers, a film about a charismatic group of strippers who steal from Wall Street execs in the aftermath of the Great Recession, has a cast with blinding star wattage: Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, Lizzo, Julia Stiles, and Usher, to name a few. This interview is not about any of them, though. This interview is not about any of the secondary characters either, or even about a human.

This interview is about Mr. Bruce.

While there is no dog in the New York Magazine story by Jessica Pressler that the movie is based on, he’s introduced in the film when Ramona (Lopez) expands her crime ring and brings on Angel (Stormi Maya), who never travels anywhere without her pet. (Does this mean Bruce is technically complicit in the robberies? I don’t know how animal law works.) You may also recognize him from a series of paparazzi photos in which he’s the mystery dog snapped cuddling with J.Lo.

In Hustlers, he gamely hangs with the women everywhere from the club to their Christmas party. Offscreen, his real name is Manhattan and he's a six-year-old Chihuahua owned by Ada Nieves. GQ spoke to the Hustlers dog handler, Nancy Novograd, to learn about Manhattan’s acting career, what his relationship was like with Jennifer Lopez, and whether he was a diva on set.

GQ: To start off, what’s Manhattan’s backstory and acting experience?
Nancy Novograd: He lives in a house with maybe seven other Chihuahuas give or take.

Oh my god.
He’s the baby of the family.

Are they all in show business?
Three of them, including Manhattan, are working dogs. The others are just pets.

What was the process of getting him cast in Hustlers?
This was very specific—they wanted a Chihuahua. I think that we did present other small dogs to them because it had to be a light color. So maybe a Pomeranian went in there. Maybe a little Yorkie. I'm not sure, it was a while ago now.

We find out from them what behaviors are needed or necessary and then we will present options to them of the dogs that can do what they need them to do.

Do you show them headshots or do you actually bring in the dogs and have them audition?
It depends on the production. For something like this, we did with photos. We were pretty confident that what they needed they could get from this particular dog. Not every Chihuahua is comfortable with being handled by multiple people. They can be a little bit nervous.

But Manhattan is a very good, good boy. A good working boy with a good attitude. But for something where there are more involved behaviors, we definitely bring options and have the director and other people from the production meet the dog. But this was a pretty straightforward behavior. We were pretty confident.

We did bring a backup, Amoretto, with us to each of the shoot days, just in case there was something that Manhattan couldn't do or wasn't comfortable with, but we never needed the backup. We only used him.

Was the backup from the same family of Chihuahuas?
Yes. Doesn't always have to be, but in this case, it was from the same group.

How big is Manhattan? He looks pretty small.
He's pretty small. I have a big dog myself, so I can't tell you exactly what he weighed. But he kind of fits in the palm of your hand.

His owner carried him around in one of these like cat backpacks. I don't know if you've ever seen them, the backpack with the bubble. He's small enough that he was very happy in there.

About how many productions has he been in?
He's six years old. He's been in a bunch of things. I would say maybe 20 different projects. Not necessarily movies. I would say he's pretty experienced.

You said that he's not very nervous. What else can you tell me about his temperament?
Chihuahuas can be nervous dogs that are very attached to their owners, and although he's attached to her, he's very friendly. Much more friendly than most Chihuahuas, and very comfortable in unusual situations. They put him on a set with a stranger and he's got a lot of confidence, which is nice.

He's got a good self image.

Good for him. So what was his behavior like on set? Were there ever times you had to reshoot anything because of him, or is he always ready to work?
No, he was in the zone. He was very good. I don't think that there was anything that he needed to do a second take for.

Cool. I have a big dog and he's very treat motivated—
What kind do you have?

He's a lab-pointer mix.
Oh nice. Oh that's really nice. Those are two great breeds.

Yeah. He's asleep in the other room, but he's very, very treat motivated. And I was wondering if it’s the same for Manhattan?
Food can go a long way, but not very much food because he's very small. So his treats are much smaller than the treats that you would give your dog or I would give mine. Little, little teeny tiny.

Were there any days when he was a diva on set at all?
No, but he's more of a diva if he and the other dog were hanging out and somebody came to say hello, he would push to the front to say hello first.

In all his scenes, he’s wearing a little outfit. How did that come about?
His owner makes all of these clothes for him. She makes boy and girl versions of them so that the females and males have matching outfits. She's very, very creative, so she just brought a couple of things just because they get cold. And the crew fell in love with one of his outfits and that became what he was wearing. It was not planned, but just fortuitous that she had something that they liked and they kept him in it.

There are a lot of paparazzi shots of Manhattan with Jennifer Lopez. Can you tell us anything more about their relationship on set?
She is the consummate professional. She walked in, she was totally confident with the dog, which gave him confidence. Because she had to pick him up and squeal, you saw that, right?

Yeah.
She was great with him. So was the person who played his owner. They were terrific. Because the main thing is for the dog to feel confident, the person handling them has to be confident. And she was, and it was a success from the first grab. I don't want to say grab. The first pick up. The first meeting.

Did he take to any of the other actors or bond with anyone else?
Oh, anyone who would give him attention. He is just happy for attention. He's easy. And everybody was really nice about it. He’s cute and he's friendly, so everybody was very sweet with him and paid him a lot of attention. So he was very happy.

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Originally Appeared on GQ