Wisconsin's Mascot Goes to Silver Screen

Bucky, the University of Wisconsin's mascot and most beloved badger, will be getting the quasi-Hollywood treatment in the documentary Being Bucky, featuring seven students who have donned the white and red and brown fuzzy suit, the Daily Cardinal reports.

The film's director struggled to persuade mascoteers—who mostly lived in secret, one "even omitting the job on his Facebook profile"—to unmask. "It kind of kills part of the magic when people know who it is," said Sky Halverson, a recent Bucky. Despite taking some flack from the mascot community, Halverson did eventually agree to take part in the movie—for reasons beyond fame and fortune, perhaps in hopes of a safer working environment. "People don't realize that there's a human in there. Yes, they do, but it's not a real person," he said. "That's why people think it's OK if their kids hit them."