20 Things You Didn't Know About Batman Returns

One of the most iconic and arguably horrifying scenes in Batman Returns sees Catwoman take The Penguin's pet bird from it's cage in his attic and stuff it - beak, feathers, the full shebang - into her mouth in an effort to gain leverage in their tense, disturbingly soft porn-ish discussions on how to deal with Batman.

For a long time after the film's release, fans marvelled at the set-piece and pontificated on how Burton managed to achieve such a realistic rendering of the colourful little chap that Pfeiffer had seemingly just attempted to eat.

Was it CGI, perhaps? Maybe it was a clever slight of hand and some masterful editing in post-production? Well, not quite. The reason that the bird looked so lifelike was because it was, in fact, a real bird. Not a sedated bird, or a painstaking dummy replica, but a proper, ornithologically authenticated flapping bird.

With no hesitation or consideration of the risks, Pfeiffer had simply taken it in her hand and crammed it into her gob.

Even Burton, creep-meister general, was a somewhat taken aback by the actress' moment of madness, saying afterwards: "I don't think I've ever been so impressed. She had a live bird in her mouth while the camera was rolling. It was four or five seconds, and then she let it fly out. It was before CG, it was before digital. It was so quick, it seems like it was an effect."