Chris Evans is, without a doubt, one of the biggest film stars in the world right now especially because of his work as Captain America in the MCU. But he comes across as a remarkably normal guy in his everyday life, being politically active, a swimmer, a lover of dogs and having embarrassed himself on the internet like all of us.
Evans now owns a mixed-breed boxer dog which is called Dodger. And yes, it is named after the Billy Joel character from the 1988 animation Oliver and Company rather than being named after the Dodger Dogs that are sold at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The actor explained this.
“There’s a movie called Oliver and Company, it’s a Disney movie, an animated movie. And I grew up watching it. I think Billy Joel is the voice of Dodger actually. And when I first saw him at the shelter I just said ‘Oh man, that looks like Dodger from Oliver and Company’. And after I decided I was taking him home with me, I went through the process of picking other names. And I just couldn’t get off Dodger, and I thought I’m not going to overthink this one.”
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Evans stated that he would never name anything after the Los Angeles Dodgers and that he was much more comfortable with the far more embarrassing story of how the dog actually got its name. Apparently, it even looks rather like the character.
The film, which came out a little before Disney’s renaissance with The Little Mermaid, is partially based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and is about a homeless kitten and a gang of street dogs. It also starred actors like Bette Midler, Richard Mulligan, Joey Lawrence, Sheryl Lee Ralph and others.
It’s certainly one of the more obscure Disney animations to name a pet after but Evans’ devotion to Dodger is clear in the fact that he has the name tattooed on himself. It’s clear just how much the little guy means to the actor!
Chris Evans is next set to appear in Netflix’s The Gray Man alongside Ryan Gosling.
