Universal/Getty BabeactorJames Cromwell's time on the fictional farm transformed his way of eating. TheSuccessionstar, 85, who played farmer Arthur Hoggett in the Oscar Award-winning 1995 children's movie, toldThe Guardianhow just a few days on set made him opt for a plant-based diet. "On the second day of filming, I broke for lunch before everybody else. All the animals I'd worked with that morning were on the table, cut up, fricasseed, roasted and seared. That was when I decided to become a vegan," he recalled in the July 21article. In the movie, Cromwell's character wins the titular pig and rather than eating the piglet, he chooses to show it at an upcoming fair. During this time, Babe bonds with fellow farm animals and learns to herd sheep. Alamy Cromwell described the cooperation and disobedience of a gaggle of ducks, sheep, border collies, horses and other farm animals (most of which were real despite one animatronic sheep and some puppets) behind the scenes of the heartwarming film. He explained that a trainer worked with the sheep for "five months" trying to perfect the final scene. When the animals did as they were supposed to, the crowd of "extras we'd gathered from the local town – went berserk," Cromwell said. According to Cromwell, viewers had similar dietary responses to the beloved movie. "The only negative thing I ever heard about Babe was from a woman who said it ruined her relationship with her daughter," he said. "They used to enjoy Big Macs together and now her daughter wouldn't eat animals. I thought: 'If that's what you based your relationship on, it sucks anyway!'" The actor is a longtime animal activist andPETA advocate— in 2023, he evenhelped save a piglet (aptly named Babe) from slaughter. "Having had the privilege of witnessing and experiencing pigs' intelligence and inquisitive personalities while filming the movieBabechanged my life and my way of eating, and so I jumped at the chance to save this real-life Babe," Cromwell said in a statement from PETA at the time. The pig was taken to an animal shelter, according to Cromwell. Read the original article onPeople
