Prosthetic? CGI? Actress explains exactly how graphic birthing scene in Office Romance was filmed

The birthing scene in Office Romance has already got people talking, and now actress Betty Gilpin has revealed exactly how that very graphic scene was filmed.

Office Romance stars Jennifer Lopez as an airline CEO who falls for the company’s in-house lawyer, played by Brett Goldstein. Betty Gilpin plays Lopez’s assistant in the romantic comedy.

Speaking at the film’s Los Angeles premiere, as reported by Variety, Betty admitted she was actually quite nervous when she first saw the prosthetics that would be used for the scene.

“Honestly, I was pretty freaked out when I first saw the prosthetic,” she said. “I had a nervous breakdown. And then I was like, ‘Oh, but I’ll be holding the ultimate working mom’s hand, Jennifer Lopez, so what could go wrong?'”

The birthing scene was a lot more complicated than viewers might expect

via Netflix

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Well, for starters, it wasn’t CGI doing all the work. Instead, her real legs were hidden underneath a table while she wore fake prosthetic legs. At the same time, a puppeteer operated an animatronic baby that was pushed through the prosthetic during filming.

Explaining how it worked, Betty said, “My real legs were below a table. [I had] fake prosthetic legs. And then a puppeteer was standing at my real legs pushing an animatronic baby out of my prosthetic part. And it made it sound like [popping sound]… It was insane.”

But that wasn’t even the most challenging part. Recalling the experience, she said, “The saddest part was when the scene was over and everybody but the puppeteers stayed in the room. Because the only way to reset was to go under and pull the fake placenta. I think the placenta is not in the movie anymore. But reach up through the prosthetic that I am still zipped into, pull the placenta back and take the umbilical cord and pull it back and then pull the baby back through, and then it was time to do it again.”

So if you were wondering whether the birthing scene was created using CGI, the answer is that a lot of it relied on practical effects instead. The production used prosthetics, puppetry and an animatronic baby to bring the sequence to life.

Office Romance is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.