Sydney Sweeney Has A Spine-Chilling Birthing Scene In Her New Movie Eden, And I Had To Ask Ron Howard About It

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Ron Howard’s Eden isn’t even in our list of upcoming horror movies, but it has one of the scariest scenes of the year. The thriller, which just became part of the 2025 movie releases in theaters now, tells the story of a few people who decided to escape society and move to the Galapagos between World War I and World War II. And during this time, one woman named Margret Wittmer (who is played by Sydney Sweeney) gave birth to her child during some dire circumstances…and not a hospital was in sight.

When CinemaBlend had the chance to speak to Eden’s director, Ron Howard, along with star Jude Law, about shooting the movie, which occurred in the Australian wilderness, I had to ask Howard about what it was like to direct Sydney Sweeney during her chilling birthing scene. In his words:

The big main day when [we were focusing on Sydney Sweeney] straining, trying to fend off the dogs while going through contractions, it was over a hundred degrees, the day that we were shooting that. And, she was just tough as nails, and totally committed to the process.

It’s not spoiling the scene at all to share that this Eden scene is truly harrowing to watch, because you won’t truly know what I’m talking about until you see it for yourself.

The movie based on Margret Wittmer’s accounts of life on the Galapagos’ island of Floreana is a fascinating one because it shows how she and the other settlers couldn’t escape society’s problems despite literally leaving their own countries. Howard continued by speaking about what Margret did and didn’t detail about her birth, saying:

Margret’s description of it is not as detailed, but a version of this happened. And, that’s how Rolf was born, alone in that cave surrounded by wild dogs. So it was a difficult scene. [They were] trained dogs, but having to get them amped up and fired up, and it was shot over a period of days.

Along with Howard telling us that an actual poisonous spider hijacked one of the shots he did with Sweeney, he spoke to how difficult it was to shoot the birthing scene, between the intensely hot weather, and simulating that a bunch of wild dogs were barking at Sweeney’s Margret while she’s having contractions without anyone by her side.

The scene is nightmarish to watch, but apparently, Sydney Sweeney was “tough as nails” on the set of the project while getting the scene shot. He also said this:

It’s a scene that audiences really remember. And none of us who worked on it will ever forget. Those are really nice dogs, by the way. They’re perfectly fine dogs. I think if you’re friendly with the trainer, they’re really nice.

While Eden has earned mixed reviews overall from critics, our Eden review has more praise to offer than criticisms. Along with Sweeney playing Margret Wittmer in the movie and Jude Law portraying Dr. Friedrich Ritter, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby and Daniel Brühl are among the cast.

Eden is just the latest of movies from Sweeney, following the recent release of Americana, which is being debated as a box office bomb lately. The actress will also be in The Housemaid later this year and the boxing biopic Christy as well. First, see her harrowing performance in Eden in theaters now!