The Real Reason Twilight: Breaking Dawn Used A CGI Baby
There are various things the "Twilight" franchise does well. It introduced the world to Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, launching both of them into lucrative acting careers with critically-acclaimed indies under their belts. It also popularized the idea of love triangles in Young Adult properties, with scores of girls signing up for either "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob." However, even the most diehard "Twilight" fans have to agree the films didn't do everything right, as evidenced by the terrifying baby in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Parts 1 & 2."
Even great movies can be ruined by bad visual effects, from Superman's deleted mustache in "Justice League" to the zombies in "I Am Legend." Unfortunately, Renesmee Cullen falls into that category, too, falling into the uncanny valley where it's human-looking but not quite entirely "of this world." It's almost as bad as the fake baby doll used in "American Sniper." It's enough to make you wonder why the filmmakers decided to go down that route. As it turns out, Renesmee could've ended up a whole lot worse.
CGI was used in place of a horrific doll
Not even the crew behind the making of the "Twilight" series try to hide the fact that Renesmee's CGI didn't come out as planned. The team talks about it extensively in the "Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga" DVD box set. In a behind-the-scenes featurette, the production crew discusses how they originally wanted to use an animatronic doll, but the creation was so terrifying, they not-so-affectionately referred to it as "Chuckesmee" (after the doll Chucky in the "Child's Play" movies). When you get a look at the doll from the video, it's no wonder why werewolves want to kill every vampire newborn if they all look like that.
Producer Wyck Godfrey later refers to Chuckesmee as "one of the most terrifying CGI babies to ever not be seen on film" (via Screen Rant). In the featurette, you can see the doll in all of its horrors, moving ever so slightly in an inhuman manner to send shivers to your soul. Fortunately, the crew decided to CGI over the infant with the version we all saw in theaters. Something still looks ... off about the child, but at least it's better than what could've been.
Even director Bill Condon admits the CGI didn't work out as well as planned. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Condon states, "[On 'Twilight,' there was] a CG half-human, half-vampire baby. That was a disaster. We could never make it work, and now, I feel as though that wouldn't have happened." Filmmaking is all about living and learning, and at least audiences can take solace that Chuckesmee isn't canon.