It's official: Babies are no longer off limits when it comes to terrifying scenes on television!
In case you missed it, two major TV premieres this week—The Walking Dead and Homeland—featured scary moments that threatened the lives of the main character's babies. On the off chance you are a mother, father or, ya know, human being with a beating heart, you might have found them to be a little...Dis. Tur. Bing. We know we did!
Mild spoilers for anyone not caught up, but in Homeland's two-hour season opener last Sunday, Carrie (Claire Danes) had a moment where it looked like she tried to drown her baby daughter Franny in a bathtub—but didn't go through with it.
And then last night on The Walking Dead, a super-wretched cannibal put his hands around baby Judith and threatened to break her neck, while she lay there crying in a bed made out of a cooler.
Both baby characters survived, but the scenes were hard to watch, and the kind of thing that TV execs probably wouldn't have imagined airing even a few years ago. Of course, this is the era of who-can-shock-you-more television, but the baby stuff just hits at a different level, especially for anyone with little ones of their own.
So, that said, you might be wondering how these types of extremely difficult scenes are shot. Of course, any sensible-minded person knows that these young children weren't actually physically harmed in the making of these scenes, but it still helps to hear about it, right? So we talked to multplie insiders who work on these type of shows, and here are a few interesting things we can share...
In the case of The Walking Dead, at the moment you see the Terminus jerk's hands on Baby Judith's neck—a k a the moment you wanted to reach through your screen and rip his head off—sources tell us that it was actually the hands of the baby's real-life father that were used during the scene, and the child wasn't actually being squeezed (of course). Any time you saw the cooler being kicked around, etc., the baby wasn't actually in there. It was a doll. We just wish we'd known all that when our hearts lept out of our chests and were being bounced around the room.
As for Homeland, if you go back and watch carefully, you'll see that the core moment, when we are left to wonder if the baby is drowning, is actually shot with an underwater camera up at Clare Danes' face. Even though we don't see the baby being held under water by a (clearly mentally ill) Carrie, we believe we see it happening, thanks to jump cuts and carefully selected camera angles.
This trickery encourages our own imaginations to fill in the gaps and make us feel as if we have actually witnessed something terribly wrong. But insiders who work on these kinds of TV show sets will tell you that the baby's security is the number-one priority, and always taken extremely seriously.
"The whole mood changes when a baby is on set," says one insider who has worked on multiple adult-themed shows that have featured babies. "It's a completely different vibe, because everyone is aware that the baby needs to be in and out, and these scenes are done with an immeasurable amount of care."
TV shows also must adhere to strict child labor laws and SAG-AFTRA union standards (assuming it's a SAG-AFTRA show) when filming with any minor under the age of 18.
"No child can ever be put in a dangerous situation," Troy Slaten, a legal expert and former child actor tells E! News. "There are no child stunt doubles. No child can ever be put in harm's way. The labor laws are very specific and there are huge penalties if they are broken."
The younger the child, the stricter the rules about safety precautions, according to Slaten. "Those rules include how long the child can be on set, how much rest and relaxation they require between scenes, and how long they can be in front of a camera."
A parent also must always be on set with any baby at all times. And in most cases, it's a "one and done shot." Meaning there are no re-dos, because the time a baby is allowed to shoot is such a very small window. (Note: Child labor laws do vary from state to state.)
Of course, why any parent would actively choose to cast their baby on a TV show with such disturbing subject matter, and how that child will feel when he or she grows up and sees that they were part of such a scene, well…That's an entirely different story. And not ours to tell.
Now go hug a baby.