The goat protocol for 'Goats'

PARK CITY, Utah (USA TODAY) — Dogs get their day on film. As do horses. But it's rare that goats play pivotal roles in movies.

"Normally if goats get a moment in film, they are brought in just to eat something important," says David Duchovny, who stars with two of them in his new film. "Like they'll show a goat eating an important map."

That changes when Duchovny spends much of his screen time with goats Freida and Lance in Goats, which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this week. It features some breakout goat performances, though director Christopher Neil says the four-legged stars did act up occasionally.

"They ate my copy of the shooting script," he says. "Freida got a few pages into it. They ate the ceiling lining off the Volkswagen Jetta in one scene. They ate the grip tape. They ate everything."

But Duchovny found his co-stars pretty chill to deal with, even if he did feel the brunt of their horns a few times.

"I got head-butted a few times," he says. "But they are not high-maintenance or low-maintenance.

"They are like cats in a way, sort of indifferent to you."

On-screen they are great, natural performers.

"They are honest, they don't lie," he says. "When you look into their eyes they are really there. They are not thinking about lunch."

"Actually," he says, "maybe they are thinking about lunch."

Duchovny vows that should the film be a success (it's still in the market for a distributor), he'll shine the spotlight on his goat co-stars the way The Artist has on its dog star Uggie.

"If we go on stage to win any kind of award for this film, I would say, 'Let's bring the goats up there with us.' ''

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