The Twilight Saga is infamous for how it used an uncanny CGI baby to portray Renesmee in Breaking Dawn. The Twilight series follows the love story between vampire Edward Cullen and human Bella Swan. While on their honeymoon in Breaking Dawn: Part 1, Edward and Bella become pregnant with a human-vampire hybrid baby, a feat previously thought to be impossible — but their love child was even more difficult to create on camera.
Renesmee’s unique genetics in Twilight presents a challenge for adaptation. Because she is part vampire, Renesmee’s physical and emotional development progress more quickly than a human child’s. This means that in Breaking Dawn, the baby both needed to be convincingly unlike other human babies, both in appearance as well as behavior. Furthermore, Renesmee would have to convincingly age rapidly throughout the final film.
The CGI baby used in Breaking Dawn: Part 2 was created by Lola VFX and required a complex process to complete. Renesmee’s appearance was shot using over 30 real-life babies, five of which were compiled into the final look [via Flickering Myth]. Furthermore, the baby’s animated eyes were inspired by those of Kristen Stewart herself as a baby. A similar strategy was used to create the CGI for older Renesmee: When Jacob sees Renesmee, he has a vision of her growing up into a teenager. To create this effect, Lola VFX combined a shot of an 18-year-old model with the digitally altered face of 10-year-old Renesmee actress Mackenzie Foy, employing the same face-aging technology used to help find missing children. Unfortunately, despite the production team’s best efforts, the older version of Edward and Bella’s daughter doesn’t look quite right.
Due to her rapid aging, Renesmee’s appearance in Breaking Dawn was digitally manufactured throughout her early childhood. Manipulated versions of Foy’s face were repeatedly edited onto the bodies of various babies and toddlers, with the real Foy only appearing towards the end of the film. As a result, the set was filled with young actresses who were only used as bodies for Foy’s expressions. The baby, however, with its large eyes and not-quite-real appearance stands out as the most memorable sequence.
The film’s creators had originally planned on using a life-size animatronic to portray baby Renesmee. However, the doll didn’t look realistic, her disturbing bug-eyed visage led her to be dubbed “Chuckesme,” and the filmmakers quickly decided to go a different route. The various methods they used instead, while effective, led to some unsettling visuals in Breaking Dawn. Director Bill Condon even admitted in hindsight [via Hollywood Reporter] that the hybrid baby’s rendering was “a disaster.” Renesmee’s distinct characteristics made her difficult to depict, and with the technology available at the time, a flawless result was practically impossible.
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July 27, 2021 at 11:53PM
