Decoder Ring The Wrongest Bird in Movie History
Oct 23, 2024
Forrest Wickman, Slate's culture editor and a passionate bird lover, dives into the avian blunders of the 2000 film Charlie’s Angels. He explores the glaring inaccuracies of the pygmy nuthatch, a bird that doesn’t belong in its on-screen environment at all. With insights from filmmakers and bird experts, he unravels the chaos and challenges behind cinematic bird portrayals. Forrest also examines broader cultural implications, conservation efforts, and the peculiar journey of getting the bird right in movies.
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The Wrongest Bird Scene
- Charlie's Angels features a bird scene wildly inaccurate in species, location, and sound realism.
- The bird shown and heard contradicts the film’s claims, offending birding enthusiasts because it is wrong on all counts.
Scriptbirds Change for Filming
- The original script named a true bird, the 'iiwi', accurate for Hawaii but later changed for production.
- Changing shooting location forced switching to less accurate birds, diluting the scene's authenticity.
Why Foreign Birds Were Chosen
- Animal trainer Gwynne Dill chose foreign tropical birds for visual impact as pygmy nuthatches are illegal to use.
- The imported birds stood out with bright colors making them suitable for the scene’s aesthetic.
