A film premiere has been cancelled after a video emerged apparently showing a frightened dog being forced into churning water during production.

A Dog’s Purpose producer, Amblin Entertainment, did not dispute the authenticity of the footage, which shows a man struggling to put a dog into a pool of rushing water while the animal fights to stay out.

In a joint statement with distributor Universal Pictures, Amblin said that the dog, a German Shepherd named Hercules, was not harmed during the making of the film, but it cancelled the premiere as a review of the video continues.

Explaining that creators did not want “anything to overshadow this film that celebrates the relationship between animals and humans”, the statement read: “While we are all disheartened by the appearance of an animal in distress, everyone has assured us that Hercules the German Shepherd was not harmed throughout the filmmaking.”

The film follows the life of a dog through a series of different lifetimes and owners and stars Dennis Quaid and Britt Robertson, with Josh Gad voicing the dog.

But the writer of the novel on which the film was based, William Bruce Cameron, has defended the film’s creators, saying that the man in the video was just trying to show the dog that it was safe to get in the water.

First I want to thank everyone-and there… – W. Bruce Cameron | Facebook

In a Facebook post he wrote: “The ethic of everyone was the safety and comfort of the dogs.

“The dog was not terrified and not thrown in the water.

“When he was asked to perform the stunt from the other side of the pool, which was not how he had been doing it all day, he baulked.

“The mistake was trying to dip the dog in the water to show him it was okay.”

Global animal protection charity Peta called the cancellation of the premiere appropriate after earlier calling for a boycott of the film.