And none of the cast is hotter than Piglet.

Her owner, Tracy Doyle of Poplar Grove, notices the lips of her mostly white pit bull are turning a little red. Doyle, who recognizes it as an early sign of heat exhaustion, calls a break in the proceedings and places her panting pooch in a cage to cool off.

Meanwhile, director/producer Edward McDougal continued to put actor Ben Gardner through his paces on a nearby hilltop. Gardner, 15, beat out about 100 competitors for the role of Jed – an escaped slave in McDougal's new Civil War-era movie, "Dog Jack."

A young, backstage assistant occasionally mists Gardner's face, a 15-year-old from Northridge Prep High School in Niles, to simulate sweat ... like he needs it.

"Remember to look back a couple of time, Ben. Be terrified," McDougal barks.

"Roll sound. Quiet please! Lock it up. Roll cameras!" Assistant Director Dan Hanson said.

The screenplay is based loosely on book of the same name, written in 1992 by Florence Biros. It chronicles the story of the Pennsylvania 102nd volunteer infantry division and its pit bull named Jack.

"This dog was so valued by its unit, that when it was captured it was involved in a prisoner exchange," Doyle said. "It received the Silver Collar award from its unit for bravery."

In the movie's fictional account, a black boy escapes slavery and takes the master's hunting dog with him on a dangerous journey toward freedom.

During filming in Marengo, the object of costume designer Michael Stein's attention is the wardrobe of two escaped slaves captured and killed in the movie.

The cotton, corduroy and linen – hung from the back doors of a battered blue panel van loaded with wardrobe racks – are expertly torn and stained using coffee and shoe dye.

"You create backgrounds. It is part of the identity of the character," Stein said. "When they don't pay attention to the costume designer, you know you've done a good job."

McDougal, 55, of Northfield, grew up in Winnetka and graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He is the son of C. Bouton McDougal, Chicago attorney and former president of The Chicago Sunday Evening Club – one of the longest-running Christian radio (1922) and television (1955) broadcast ministries in the world.

"The good that is happening every day come directly from our God who is overlooking this project," said McDougal, who formerly taught film at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va.

McDougal said he met Biros about a dozen years ago and fell in love with the book. When Disney backed out, McDougal stepped in. Filming on "Dog Jack" began May 14 and is expected to continue through mid-August. The crew traveled to Glenview, Rockford, Waukegan and a private residence in Bull Valley. It will film in a Galena lead mine, Wednesday through July 18. It filmed in Wauconda last weekend during the 14th Annual Civil War Days. Hosted by the Lake County Discovery Museum in the Lakewood Forest Preserve, the re-created Civil War battle features more than 750 re-enactors.

At the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, in North Freedom, Wis., Piglet spent much of the day jumping on and off a moving train.

"How do you prepare an animal for that?" Doyle asked. "She had to learn how to jump into a box car and sit in a kid's lap... It's interesting. It's a learning process for all of us."

Doyle, pit bull activist opposed to breed-specific legislation, stumbled on the casting call for a pit bull – resembling Petey of "Little Rascals" fame – while perusing a Web site. Piglet beat out 80 other pit bulls during April auditions in Chicago.

"She is a girl playing a boy dog, but Lassie was a girl dog being played by a boy so this is payback," Doyle said.

The fact that Piglet plays a male is the least of her obstacles. The real challenge is that Piglet is deaf.

"This is the first time in history that a deaf dog has ever starred in a movie about a dog," a proud Doyle said. "She could be the next Rin Tin Tin. I don't know. It depends on how much theater exposure it gets."

Doyle gets around hearing loss using a no-nonsense training style and hand signals. But a dog with a stable temperament and great resiliency are required. She is chased by bloodhounds, men on horseback and a mob with torches in the movie. They even fire cannons, the vibrations of which even a deaf dog can sense.

"I'm still kind of feeling my way through this. It's very different than obedience training," Doyle said. "I'm finding you have to train on the spot. ... They roll film and we just pray that the dog does what she is supposed to. She learns by watching."

Four to five takes are common, as are 10- to 12-hour days five or six days a week.

"I think film-making is a little bit like people describe wives and woman: You can't do with them and you can't do without them," said McDougal, who has spent about half of his life making movies. "Film-making has some painful elements to it."

Lights and sound equipment must be lugged to location – along with bottled water, motor oil and gasoline for the generator (cloaked in Civil War-era Army tent) film dollies and cameras. And then there is job of scheduling the revolving cast of 40 and getting them situated in such far-flung places as Harpers Ferry, W. Va. Darlington, Pa. The principal actors and crew will be making the trek east on July 24.

"The other day I had a tick hanging off my leg" said Kyra Harper, in charge of script continuity. "Movie-making isn't very glamorous. It's a lot of hard work."

McDougal said extensive editing will be required to get the finished product down to the 112 minutes McDougal is shooting for. He estimated he will have about 38 hours of footage to pour over when filming ends. But it is a labor of love.

"I want to have people start to search for answers that the characters are searching for," McDougal said. "They have their lives uprooted with tremendous human loss."

Garder praised Chicago actress Valencia Dantzler, whose character offers escaped slaves safe haven as part of the Underground Railroad.

"She is a neat actress," Gardner said. "Often just two or three takes is all that is needed. She's always in the right place."

Dantzler, 34, who acts under the name Mother Diva, said she's learned a lot herself – including how to navigate in a hoop skirt and act without the typical Hollywood constraints.

"Ed was not interested in me pleasing him," Dantzler said. "He kept on saying, 'Just act like yourself.'"

McDougal Films hopes to shop "Dog Jack" at various film festivals. Working with Icon Productions, a Mel Gibson company.

"The last film I shopped around. I really went the extra mile to get as many distributors as possible. I contacted about 2,000 and I was able to have some choice in picking Vanguard Video," McDougal said. "I hope to do better this time, but it's always a long shot. You never know what is going to happen. You have a movie with stars and a put a huge budget into it and be lucky if it is shown on cable."