Five Things You May Not Know About the Netflix Blockbuster ‘Bird Box’

Before reading further, better be warned that this article contains hordes of spoilers, so proceed at your own risk!

In less than a month after “Bird Box” was released, it easily became the talk of the town for all the right reasons – it gained outrageous and rave reviews among viewers even with a simple plot. It also launched loads of memes and even sprouted a challenge where people blindfold themselves and then roam around places, which is pretty much unsafe. That was why Netflix, the streaming service brought us the post-apocalyptic thriller, with a warning for the faint-hearted.

One look at your social media accounts and you’ll see just how the Sandra Bullock-led film became massive, and it’s not a surprise – just look at the figures released saying there were 45 million people who watched the film in its first week, making it the most-viewed Netflix original ever. With all these, you’ve basically known everything about “Bird Box,” or so you’ve thought. Here are facts you may not know about the scary film that are definitely worth knowing:

1. Based on a Book

Like most films nowadays, “Bird Box” was actually based on a novel with the same title, written by Josh Malerman that revolves around a mom who does everything she can to protect her kids against monsters that when seen, can cause people to take their own lives. It was released in 2014, and interestingly, “A Quiet Place,” which is heavily compared with the 2018 Netflix movie, wasn’t even in the horizon, so naysayers should definitely look into the timetable.

2. Never Meant to Have a Happy Ending

We all know how the ending of the suspenseful movie goes: Malorie and the two kids safely reach a sanctuary run by blind people after the stressful journey through the river, which actually is a nice way to end such a heart-wrenching, adrenaline-inducing picture. However, it wasn’t supposed to leave the audience happy at all, at least as per the source material.

Susanne Bier, “Bird Box” director, admitted in an interview that she was aware that the film may have gone astray from the original storyline in the book in some aspects and that includes the ending. In the novel, the sanctuary is also run by blind people, but most of them purposefully made themselves lose their sense of sight to avoid seeing the monsters.

3. There’s a Scene that Showed the Monster

“Bird Box” never actually showed the monster, sans for the illustrations brought by Gary, the intruder that pretended to be a survivor, but the audience didn’t have a glimpse of the creatures in the flesh. However, writer Eric Heisserer said in an interview that the scary monsters almost made it to the big screen but the scenes were eventually deleted.

As to how they look, Bullock hinted they were green and had baby faces, which, in the beginning, scared her but she eventually just found it funny. Furthermore, it was likened to a snake, but sadly, it was cut off despite the staff painstakingly taking time to create the costume.

4. Bullock Removed One Layer of Blindfold at Times

No, Bullock didn’t cheat her way to survival – it’s for the safety of the kids, literally. The actress revealed that she was actually wearing blindfolds while filming, even when she had to carry Girl and pull Boy while running. It was hard for her, who occasionally bumped into several things and the production crew during their filming. Moreover, the actress decided to remove one layer of her blindfolds whenever her character, Girl, and Boy were running just so she could at least see outlines of things and avoid getting the kids hurt.

5. Bullock and the Director Initially Didn’t Want to Do the Film

It’s hard to imagine who could play Malorie better than Bullock, who has several awards under her belt like Academy Award, Critics Choice Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, among many others. The same can also be said for the Danish director, who was also behind the thriller series “The Night Manager” and the film “Serena.”

However, the duo didn’t want to take on the project when it was first shown to them years back. What made Bier change her mind was the social and political climate we now have, which she said made the film more relevant.