Claim:
Real squirrels were trained to crack nuts for Tim Burton’s 2005 film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” WARNING! Attitute Rating of this claim.
Since 2005, an urban legend has persisted that 40 squirrels were trained to crack nuts for 2005’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” rather than robots. An archived post on 2022’s iFunny read (archived):
“Rather than use CGI, Tim Burton trained 40 squirrels instead to crack nuts for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory,” claimed one Reddit user in 2017. An X user asked in 2019 about whether these squirrels received compensation.
Simply stated, as real squirrels were indeed trained to crack nuts in Tim Burton’s 2005 movie, we rated this claim as true.
BBC News reported in July 2005 that 40 squirrels had been trained for Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film using real effects rather than computer generated effects, even with sophisticated computer technology available at his fingertips. Animal trainer Steve Vedmore who had worked on it for eight weeks revealed many details in an interview for that article about behind-the-scenes preparations: “These trained squirrels will crack nuts to crack out some real surprises on screen!”
Due to a confidentiality agreement with Warner Bros, he cannot disclose everything that happened on set; however, having worked with squirrels before, he noted some were easy and some not so much.
“Placid animals can be handled well while aggressive ones must be used as running animals from point A to B – we try not to contact these ones as much because they bite!” Training involves giving food rewards when doing what was expected – squirrels received nuts when performing as required!
“To shape their behavior, when running them from A to B – which could be 100m away – place catching boxes inches away so they run into it and receive rewards; gradually moving it farther and further away as time progresses.”
He remarks on some workers putting in more effort while others quickly filling up with nuts before losing interest, leading him to suspect the latter group was more motivated and dedicated than those that quickly consumed all available food supplies, according to reports from him.
“Squirrels were used for 10 months during filming of this project, including training.” According to an article written about their usage by American Humane Association staff. This ensured no animal would experience distress due to being made to do something which might disturb it during training sessions.
Below you can watch a scene from a film which used real squirrels:
And here is a documentary short about training the squirrels: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Attack of the Squirrels”: Witness this scene was shot using real life squirrels: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1EAl7jdIk]nettoyagenettoyage In addition, our documentary short “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Attack of Squirrels”, provides insight into training as real squirrels were brought onto set: WATCH HERE[/embed] WATCH THIS VIDEO]. Our documentary short “Charlie and Chocolate Factory: Attack of Squirrels”, gives viewers into training techniques used with regards to our footage: WATCH IT HERE[/embed].
We have conducted previous investigations relating to squirrel claims: in May 2024 we examined social media posts reporting a wife had used a squirrel to stab her husband; while April 2017 brought forth reports of arrest charges being levied against a woman for training squirrels against her former flame – both cases involved squirrel attacks against human targets.
