In honor of the Twilight books turning 20 this year, some of the cast and filmmakers have been looking back on what it was like being part of the phenomenon of a vampire series as the movies return to theaters this week. The latest is Mackenzie Foy, who famously played Renesmee in Breaking Dawn Part 2 when she was 10. During a new interview, she revealed one funny detail about her time as the daughter of Bella and Edward.
If you’re into Twilight behind-the-scenes lore, you probably know that the production of Breaking Dawn actually had an animatronic version of Renesmee made before they decided to switch to CGI. Here’s what Foy, who’s now 24, recalls of the doll:
We were there at the same time and place, but I think they spared me from her. I think they were just figuring it out…. To age somebody up from an infant, I feel like that was still kind of experimental at the time [in CGI].
As Foy shared in a new interview with Teen Vogue, she actually never met the mechanical doll version of Renesmee, which was lovingly nicknamed “Chuckesme” because it reminded the crew of Chucky. And hey, that was probably a good call. If you’ve seen the pictures of Chuckesme, or if you’re lucky, had the chance to look at it in the eyes at the Twilight museum in Forks, Washington, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven’t had the pleasure, behold it below.
Details about “Chuckesme” was revealed in the bonus features for Breaking Dawn Part 2 where a scene was shown of Nikki Reed’s Rosalie being seen holding the cursed creation. Reed said that it was difficult to hold up the 60-pound baby doll as two puppeteers moved her hands and such around. She called it “really difficult.” They spent some time shooting with the animatronic, but ultimately decided to use CGI instead due to it looking just too unsettling.
Either way, baby Renesmee became the subject of memes. Given Taylor Lautner’s Jacob Black ends up falling in love with the baby during her ripe age, it’s one of those odd things about the Twilight movies we wish the movie had changed.
Luckily, Foy stepped in to play Renesmee when the character is a bit older. The actress was just getting her start then, and the movies were her first time on a film set. Foy said that her appreciation of Twilight “has only grown” as she’s aged. She was later in The Conjuring, she played the daughter in Interstellar, and was in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and a 2020 version of Black Beauty.
Happy Anniversary Twilight. We love you, weird CGI babies and all.
