Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall and director Max Winkler open up about the stomach-churning sequence that left the actors covered in fake vomit and diarrhea.

Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story wastes little time delivering shocking moments, but one scene in Episode 2 was particularly difficult to film.

Charlie Hunnam and Rebecca Hall, who play Andrew and Abby Borden, were required to portray a horrifying reaction after eating spoiled oysters. The scene ends with the pair violently vomiting and soiling themselves in the dining room after their daughter Lizzie and maid Bridget Sullivan deliberately serve them the out-of-season shellfish in an attempt to poison them.

While the finished scene may look disturbingly realistic, the actors and director Max Winkler revealed that creating it required an elaborate setup—and plenty of fake bodily fluids.

Max Winkler Wanted a “Symphonic” Vomiting Scene

Winkler, who directed and executive-produced the episode, said he wanted the sequence to feel much bigger than a standard vomiting scene.

“I always knew that I wanted the experience to feel kind of like when you go to the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, and you see the fountains,” Winkler explained. “I wanted there to be an Andrea Bocelli symphonic experience with it.”

Achieving that vision proved to be one of the most complicated sequences of his career.

Winkler spent hours researching how filmmakers create convincing vomiting effects, including studying Triangle of Sadness, which he considered one of the best examples of theatrical vomiting on screen.

He described vomiting as a “violent, horrible experience” and wanted to make sure the sequence captured that intensity.

The Crew Tested the Vomit Effects Before Filming

The production did not immediately put Hunnam and Hall into the full effects setup.

Winkler explained that the cast first performed a dry run without any vomit. The production then experimented with tubes and different distances to determine how much material should be projected and how far it should travel.

After multiple tests, the actors eventually performed the scene using rigs that allowed the fake vomit to be projected during their reactions.

The director said one of his biggest challenges was making sure Rebecca Hall did not actually vomit.

Rebecca Hall Was Worried She Might Get Sick

Hall admitted that she has a strong reaction to seeing other people vomit.

“I’m not good with icky stuff, and I’m really not good with vomiting,” she said. “I have like a hair trigger empathetic response, and I will immediately start [vomiting].”

Before filming, she even asked the crew how the scene would be handled because she was concerned she might become sick for real.

But those fears disappeared once she saw the effects in action.

“It was so funny and preposterous, and nothing was remotely like real vomiting, actually,” Hall recalled.

Instead of struggling to keep herself from getting sick, she found herself trying not to laugh while the cameras were rolling.

“I don’t think I’ve ever laughed more,” she said.

The scene did, however, leave her with one unexpected problem: she can no longer look at tomato soup the same way.

“I never wanna, as long as I live, see a bowl of tomato soup ever, ever, ever again,” Hall joked.

She explained that she used to enjoy grilled cheese and tomato soup, but said that combination was now permanently ruined for her.

Charlie Hunnam Was Covered in Fake Vomit and Diarrhea

Hunnam was also not particularly excited about the sequence.

The actor admitted that he had been “dreading” the shoot because he expected it to be extremely uncomfortable.

“I’m kind of a germaphobe,” Hunnam said. “So even if it’s fake vomit, being covered head to toe in vomit and diarrhea for the day did not seem like a particularly enjoyable experience.”

And according to Hunnam, his concerns were justified.

“Indeed it wasn’t,” he added.

The actor nevertheless went through with the elaborate effects required to bring Andrew Borden’s gruesome reaction to life.

Ella Beatty Had a Much Easier Time

Ella Beatty, who plays Lizzie Borden, had a very different experience on set.

Unlike Hunnam and Hall, Beatty was not connected to the vomiting rigs, allowing her to watch the effects from the dining table.

She described the entire process as “so much fun” and said she was fascinated by the technical side of creating the scene.

“I was so excited to see how we were gonna do that,” Beatty said. “Even the technical aspect of it, I was really curious about.”

She added that she felt particularly lucky because she only had to sit at the table while Hunnam and Hall dealt with the elaborate effects.

The result is one of the more memorable sequences in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story—a scene that may have been disgusting for the characters, uncomfortable for the actors and technically demanding for the crew, but surprisingly hilarious behind the scenes.

All episodes of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story are available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Compiled from various sources