In a workshop outside Paris, Celine Lallement stitched hairs into a silicone baby’s skull — the latest creation from a studio specialized in making ultra-realistic infants for the film and TV industries.
Founded in 2008 and based in a north Paris suburb, Cinebebe produces props that can take more than six weeks of crafting before they are sent to production sets.
“It’s mohair, it comes from the Angora goat. It’s finer than adult hair, so it imitates baby hair very well,” Lallement said as she carefully inserted each strand.
Photo: AFP
At one point, she spotted a problem.
“There are two hairs in the same follicle, that won’t work,” she said before using tweezers to correct the mistake.
Her latest work is set to be used in a film shoot in England, said Justine Ray Le Solliec, who comanages the special effects workshop.
Photo: AFP
With slightly red cheeks, tiny veins under the eyelids, skin folds and pores, it is hard to tell the difference from a real child.
“You can expect to pay around 700 euros [US$723.25] to rent a baby for a day’s shoot and between 9,000 euros and 15,000 euros to buy one, depending on the time required to make it,” Ray Le Solliec said.
From 26-week premature infants to 18-month-old toddlers, Cinebebe’s miniature mannequins are used in about 100 productions every year, mostly in France and Europe.
Photo: AFP
Their work has been glimpsed in hit Netflix series Emily in Paris, as well as last year’s blockbuster French movie The Count of Monte Cristo. The company uses silicone castings for babies, but also creates pregnant bellies, breasts, placentas, fetuses, umbilical cords and even life-sized pelvis models that are used for birth scenes.
“In France, regulations prohibit newborns under three months old from participating in film shoots,” Ray Le Solliec said.
“For infants aged three months to three years, filming time is limited to one hour per day, which can be challenging when multiple scenes involve children,” she said.
Beyond regulations, their business has accelerated since the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
“It helped us because babies were not allowed on set during that period,” Ray Le Solliec said.
Since the end of the pandemic, their revenue has doubled every year, although there was a “slight slowdown” last year compared with 2023, with a growth rate of 35 percent. The next step is expanding internationally, with a London office planned for this year.
Their production goal is to develop babies with open eyes as well as larger babies for stunt scenes.
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