Bet You Didn't Know These Facts About Babe

MORE THAN ONE BABE

Pigs grow super quickly so, with a long production schedule, they needed to have a few animal doubles. And by “a few”, we mean 48, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Each pig could only be filmed for a three-week period before they grew too big for the character. They had six large white Yorkshire piglets bred at a time for each three-week period, resulting in the final total of 48 pigs, with 46 of the pigs appearing in the final cut. 

Photo: News Limited

BABE’S A GIRL

In the movie, it never said if Babe was a boy pig or girl pig and its voice was deliberately androgynous. But all the pigs were female because the male genitalia would’ve been too obvious on screen.

Photo: News Corp Australia

SO, SO MANY ANIMALS

There’s an old adage that you should never work with kids or animals... Try 970 animals. 

Photo: The Jane Austen Film Club

PEOPLE ATE LESS PORK

The same year that the movie opened in the US, the pork industry saw a drop in sales. While not conclusively linked, the Vegetarian Times mentioned it in article discussing the industry’s issues.

Photo: Fetchrx

BANNED IN MALAYSIA

Babe was originally banned in Malaysia because a movie about a pig could have been seen as offensive to its large Muslim population. Other sources say the term “babe” is also considered vulgar in the country.

However, the film was eventually released on home video in the country.

Photo: A Gift Of Miles