Matthew McConaughey bees scene

by Tufail: Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey describes filming a scene covered in thousands of real bees while being allergic to bee stings. He explains the sequence was no CGI, running about 40 minutes and set up at magic hour. During the take, he held a queen bee while surrounded by the hive, noting that if you hold the queen bee, the rest of the hive will come to protect her. He emphasizes that over 40 minutes, all these bees gather around her to protect her, so you just don't get tense or make any sudden moves. Remarkably, he did not get stung one time in this shot. The stakes were high because a week before shooting, he got stung and the beekeeper asked if he was allergic; he initially said no, but about 30 minutes on the way home, his peripheral vision on his right side started going out. Pulling down the vanity mirror, he saw his eye looked swollen and realized he was very allergic to bee stings. Because of this allergy, when you have a scene like this, they schedule someone like Mr. McConaughey, who's allergic to bee bites, for the last shot of the movie.