 Captivated by Hedren 's Nordic looks , Hitchcock becomes infatuated with her . While filming The Birds , he makes advances to her in the back of a limousine but she rebuffs him . In retaliation for her rejection , Hitchcock exposes Hedren to terrifying encounters with birds . A mechanical bird breaks the apparently <unk> glass of a telephone booth during filming , showering Hedren with glass . After arriving on set to shoot a scene where Hedren 's character ( Melanie Daniels ) is trapped in an attic with aggressive birds , she discovers that Hitchcock has ordered the mechanical birds to be replaced with live ones . He demands the scene be repeated until he is satisfied that Hedren 's reaction looks authentic . This takes several days , leaving Hedren traumatised . 
