Upon leaving the theater after seeing The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, two things I noted aloud were that I loved that they changed the ending from the book, and that the baby version of Edward and Bella’s half-human/half-vampire daughter Renesmee was weird. Don’t get me wrong, her face was adorable, but the special effects used didn’t quite hit the mark, coming off as unrealistic and strange, as opposed to the presumably intended mixture of beautiful, adorable and superhuman. Watching the above video, I now realize that unrealistic and strange are a far better alternative to the creepy puppet-doll they were originally going to use as baby Renesmee. Meet "Chuckesmee," a doll producer Wyck Godrey refers to as "one of the most grotesque animatronic babies ever to not be seen on film."
With the Twilight Forever DVD/Blu-ray set ready to release tomorrow (November 5), we’ve been seeing some bonus content make its way online, giving us some behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the feature adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s beloved vampire series. That includes the above video, which was shared by Yahoo, and makes no attempt to conceal the creepy-factor of the doll, including horror music in the background, and actor Nikki Reed referring to it as a "creature." It’s not so much the doll’s face that’s creepy, though her eyes do seem to be a shade or two larger than the average infant's, and her lips are a bit too defined. Dolls tend to have embellished facial features, after all. But watch the shifting eyes, the creeping hand and the sagging chin, and it’s no surprise they decided to go with digital effects for final version of Renesmee.
Here’s a scene from the finished film that features baby Renesmee, special effects and all:
Like I said, I wasn’t a fan of what they did there, as I found myself staring at the baby trying to figure out what wasn’t right, rather than marveling at her beauty, which I think was the intention. But it worked out better than the puppet probably would have. Perhaps the unused Chuckesmee doll will find her way into a future Child's Play sequel.
It’s bonus content like the Chuckesmee video that might offer some added incentive for Twi-hards to shell out even more money for the Complete Saga Box Set after they’ve probably already purchased each film individually on DVD or Blu-ray. In addition to the films, the set promises over two hours of never-before-seen content for fans, and a commemorative photo album.
