bird box girl sandra bullock
[Photo via Netflix]

Here’s what the ‘Bird Box’ monster was supposed to look like

Bird Box seems to be all anyone can talk about lately, and with good reason. The post-apocalyptic thriller broke Netflix’s record for most viewers in a single week.

As is the case with anything gaining popularity, thousands of memes have appeared. Whether or not those are the result of some major meme conspiracy theory remains unanswered. However, it could’ve been way worse had we actually seen the mysterious force everyone was covering their eyes from.

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As the Bird Box cast and crew chat about the mega-hit, they of course got asked about the unseen creatures. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer told Bloody Disgusting a producer wanted the creature to be on-camera at least once, so he wrote it in.

“There was a time when one of the producers was like, ‘No, you have to see something at some point’ and forced me to write essentially a nightmare sequence where Malorie experiences one in that house,” Heisserer says.

Sandra Bullock, who plays main character Malorie, then described exactly what she was facing in a now deleted scene.

“It was snake-like, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to see it when it first happens. Just bring it into the room. We’ll shoot the scene.’ I turn and he’s like this [growling at me.] It’s making me laugh. It was just a long fat baby.”

Director Susanne Bier knew a “long fat baby” was going to hold some humor and eventually decided to scrap it.

“It so easily becomes funny,” Bier says. “We actually shot that and spent a lot of energy on, but every time I saw it, I was like this is not going to be tense. It’s just going to be funny. At first, Sandy was like, ‘I don’t want to see it’ because she thought it was scary. Then it was like, ‘Don’t show it to me because [I’ll laugh].’ Every time I did it, I was like, ‘Shit, that’s a different film.’”

The Bird Box creature revealed

Now, Buzzfeed unearthed some sculptures of what the creature in question was going to look like via SFX Atlas. And well, just check it out below.

Andy Bergholtz, who worked Bird Box’s special effects department, also shared the sculpture along with some background on it. He explained the monster would appear differently depending on who looked at it and this one was just for Malorie:

“Some spoilers ahead for Bird Box, continue reading at your own risk! We had the unique pleasure of designing a creepy makeup for the film, although the scene ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Keep in mind, the fatal ‘vision’ that each character saw would most likely be different for each person (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the film), and this makeup appeared in a cut “dream/nightmare sequence” with Sandra Bullock’s character.

“Considering her pregnant state and emotional arc thru the movie, the producers felt Sandra’s nightmare would have something to do with a twisted, demonic baby creature attacking her (that’s as much as I could gather about the context of the scene anyway). I sculpted at least 3 or 4 variations on the design before it was approved, which began as a more aggressive, monster-y look and was revised to be a bit more subtle in the end. I also had the pleasure of painting the finished prosthetics before sending them to set, to be worn and performed by the one and only Dirk Rogers, applied by the great [Steve Prouty].

“It’s funny, I read an interview recently where Bullock described the creature as a ‘snake-like, green man with a horrific baby face.’ Many folks have speculated what the creature may have looked like, but they fail to realize the ‘snake-like green man’ portion was simply Dirk in a spandex green-screen suit. Everything from the neck down was intended to be a giant CGI creature/body added later.

“In the end, I actually really liked the movie and think it was better off NOT showing the makeup. Kudos to the director for sticking to her guns on that one. Still a fun project to be a part of, thanks Howie!”

*Some spoilers ahead for BIRD BOX, continue reading at your own risk!* We had the unique pleasure of designing a creepy makeup for the film, although the scene ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Keep in mind, the fatal “vision” that each character saw would most likely be different for each person (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the film), and this makeup appeared in a cut “dream/nightmare sequence” with Sandra Bullock’s character. Considering her pregnant state and emotional arc thru the movie, the producers felt Sandra’s nightmare would have something to do with a twisted, demonic baby creature attacking her (that’s as much as I could gather about the context of the scene anyway). I sculpted at least 3 or 4 variations on the design before it was approved, which began as a more aggressive, monstery look and was revised to be a bit more subtle in the end. I also had the pleasure of painting the finished prosthetics before sending them to set, to be worn and performed by the one and only Dirk Rogers @thehalloweendirk, applied by the great @proutyfx. It’s funny, I read an interview recently where Bullock described the creature as a “snake-like, green man with a horrific baby face”. Many folks have speculated what the creature may have looked like, but they fail to realize the “snake-like green man” portion was simply Dirk in a spandex green-screen suit ?. Everything from the neck down was intended to be a giant CGI creature/body added later. In the end, I actually really liked the movie and think it was better off NOT showing the makeup. Kudos to the director for sticking to her guns on that one. Still a fun project to be a part of, thanks Howie! @hoops511 #netflix #birdbox

A post shared by Andy Bergholtz (@andy_bergholtz) on

What do you think of the Bird Box monster? Sound off in the comments below!

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