Los Angeles, April 26 (IANS) Actor James Cromwell is bringing back his Farmer Hoggett persona from ‘Babe’ in a new video.
In early April, the actor, 83, helped save a piglet that fell off a slaughterhouse truck and named the baby animal ‘Babe’, after his famous pig costar from the 1995 movie ‘Babe’, reports ‘People’.
In a new video for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Cromwell shares the baby rescue pig’s story and even sings a few lines of Farmer Hoggett’s song from ‘Babe’: “If I Had Words.”
In the film, the song comes when Cromwell’s character encourages the titular pig to drink from a milk bottle. In the PETA spot, the Succession actor holds Babe the rescue piglet in his arms and lightly strokes the farm animal as he sings the song from the movie.
The piglet reacts to Cromwell’s song by squealing, then lying on Cromwell’s lap and falling asleep.
At the conclusion of the PETA video, Cromwell repeats his line from the ending of Babe: “That’ll do, pig, that’ll do.”
Babe the rescue piglet now lives at an animal sanctuary in Pennsylvania. The Cromwell clip also includes footage of PETA volunteers releasing Babe from his cage to roam free at his new home.
“Babe is every bit as loving and playful as a puppy,” Cromwell said in a statement about the rescue animal. “It was an honour to make his acquaintance, and I’ll rest easy knowing he’s safe to live out his life in peace, something every animal deserves to do.”
The actor said earlier this month that “filming the movie Babe changed my life and my way of eating, and so I jumped at the chance to save this real-life Babe.”
“Anyone moved by this rescue story can become lifesavers like James Cromwell simply by keeping pigs and other wonderful animals off their plates,” Lisa Lange, the senior vice president of PETA, said.
“PETA is asking everyone to see animals as individuals, not ingredients.”
Before filming his scene with Babe the piglet, Cromwell shared a recording of a virtual meeting with Babe on Twitter.
In the clip, Cromwell greets the baby pig: “Hello there, little man. I understand your name is Babe. I knew a pig named Babe. What a smart little pig she was. Bet you are too.”
“I hear you’re rather an extraordinary pig – besides being sleepy,” he says as the piglet nestles in a blanket. “So you jumped off a truck so you wouldn’t be Easter’s dinner. What a great thing to do.”
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