 Filming began on 8 December 2011 . As part of her research Miller ( who was in the early stages of pregnancy ) spoke to Hedren several times during filming , and the two became friends . Live birds were used to recreate the filming of the attic scene in The Birds . Miller told the Radio Times , " I did go through a bird attack for two hours . It pales in comparison to what [ Hedren ] was subjected to , but it was pretty horrible . There were men off @-@ camera with boxes of birds , throwing seagulls and pigeons in my face " . 
