A movie set runs on schedules, continuity, costumes, and the hope that tomorrow will look exactly like yesterday. Pregnancy has never been particularly interested in any of that. Once filming is underway, a growing belly can turn an ordinary dress fitting into a weekly puzzle, make a harmless stunt suddenly off-limits, or force scenes set minutes apart to be photographed months apart under very different circumstances. Hollywood had plenty of solutions long before computers entered the picture. Handbags moved upward, tables appeared in convenient places, skirts became fuller, and camera operators discovered just how useful another actor’s shoulder could be. Digital effects eventually added new possibilities, but the old tricks never really disappeared. What makes these examples entertaining is how little attention the finished movies draw to all that work. We were supposed to watch the character, not wonder why she kept carrying a folder across her stomach.
#1: Scarlett Johansson in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Chris Evans occasionally began chatting with Scarlett Johansson only to discover that he was talking to somebody else. There were enough Black Widow doubles around the production to make that an understandable mistake. Pregnancy had arrived just before a movie filled with fights, chases, and tight costumes was due to shoot, and Joss Whedon decided against reducing Natasha Romanoff’s role. The calendar became the first solution: material that required the actual actress was pushed earlier whenever possible.
