Lee Pace took home a kitten who was left abandoned in the wake of Hurricane Maria whilst he was filming ‘Driven’.
The 40-year-old actor was in Puerto Rico on location with his co-stars Judy Greer and Jason Sudeikis in September 2017 when the devastating hurricane hit, and after filming was temporarily halted on the production – which was released on Friday (16.08.19) – he decided to adopt a kitten which had been left without a home in the natural disaster.
Judy, 44, explained: "It was completely devastating to the island, and it still is. So it was bananas coming back after that. It’s indescribable what we saw and what we were doing. I think a lot of us were torn about going back and about shooting a movie there so soon and if that the right thing to do. I think it was, and I think we kept our promise to people and we provided jobs for people."
The actress said she and her co-stars spent time volunteering with local charities whilst the shoot was called off, and says that’s where Lee found his furry friend.
She added: "We went and visited clinics all over the island. I worked with this dog rescue called the Puerto Rico Dog Fund. I helped them get animals into cargo planes and off the island. We took animals we found on the street to veterinarians. Lee Pace took a kitten home from Puerto Rico! We found a little kitten wandering around base camp one day, and he took it home. There were so many animals everywhere. Not at all to say that our focus was them and not the people there, that wasn’t the case, but we were doing everything we could do."
And whilst being caught in the hurricane was terrifying, Judy believes it served as an important humanitarian experience.
Speaking to Us Weekly magazine, she said: "Every day off was spent helping someone. It was a really terrible time in some ways but beautiful in some ways to see how people can come together and help each other. It was a really strange, unexpected experience."