{"id":820103,"date":"2026-10-31T20:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T20:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820103\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T20:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T20:40:21","slug":"the-mosquito-bowl-how-a-parrot-proved-to-be-peter-bergs-biggest-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820103\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Mosquito Bowl’: How a Parrot Proved to Be Peter Berg’s Biggest Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDirector Peter Berg<\/a> faced numerous challenges shooting his latest film, \u201cThe Mosquito Bowl<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on Buzz Bissinger\u2019s book, the film tells the true story of four college football stars \u2014 Tom Francis as David Schreiner, Nicholas Galitzine as John McLaughry, Ray Nicholson as Tony Butkovich and Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd as Bob Baumann \u2014 who are called to serve in the Marines during World War II.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom football camp to visceral, harrowing sequences of war in the Pacific, the story takes audiences through it all, immersing them in the experience. But one moment completely stumped the director: a scene featuring Tony and an island parrot in the jungle. In Bissinger\u2019s book, Tony sends his parents photos of a parrot perched on his shoulder.<\/p>\n

\n\tBerg explained, \u201cBuzz writes about it, so we had to get a parrot.\u201d The film was shot on location in Queensland, Australia. \u201cWe were in the middle of the woods, and it\u2019s not easy to find a parrot,\u201d Berg shared during a recent Q&A in Hollywood. Joining him were Nicholson, executive producer Ezra Emanuel and producer Alex Gayner. In the conversation, moderated by Variety\u2019s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, Berg said he turned the task of finding a parrot over to Gayner so he could continue shooting the film.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe day before the scene, Berg learned Gayner and the team had found a parrot. \u201cThe parrot arrives with four handlers, and they are serious about it \u2026 it\u2019s the only parrot on the island,\u201d Berg explained. Fortunately, the bird was trained, and Berg knew it was in good hands. The handlers also made sure no one harmed the parrot.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tBerg recalled, \u201cRay is brought on to set; I\u2019m not allowed to say anything. They\u2019re in charge, and they\u2019re directing Ray and then they bring the parrot out.\u201d He continued, saying he had been assured the parrot had been clipped so it wouldn\u2019t fly away. \u201cNobody on the crew could talk \u2014 dead silence. I\u2019m scared. They put the parrot down. I said, \u2018Can we roll?\u2019 They said, \u2018No. Let the parrot settle.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe director called Nicholson \u201cincredibly professional\u201d for doing everything he needed to do, using hand signals to maintain silence and avoid startling the bird. \u201cAs soon as I say \u2018Action!\u2019 the fucking parrot flies off. It\u2019s gone. It just flies away into the jungle, into a 100-foot tree,\u201d Berg laughed. His first thought was about the headlines: \u201cIt\u2019s going to be \u2018Peter Berg kills and loses the parrot.\u2019 So I\u2019m freaking out. This is bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe search for the parrot delayed filming for a few hours until the bird was finally found in a tree and had to be coaxed down. When the handler retrieved the parrot, they tied a friendly string to its leg. \u201cAnd we got the shot,\u201d Berg said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Mosquito Bowl\u201d is in theaters now and debuts on Netflix Nov. 25.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Director Peter Berg faced numerous challenges shooting his latest film, \u201cThe Mosquito Bowl.\u201d Based on Buzz Bissinger\u2019s book,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,232156,246281,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-820103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-peter-berg","tag-the-mosquito-bowl","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}