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What Zendaya actually did in the aerial number
“Rewrite the Stars” is staged as an aerial sequence, and the production material presents Zendaya’s trapeze work as a real part of her performance rather than a stand-in job. Choreographer Ashley Wallen has said of her, “Zendaya was absolutely amazing at the trapeze stuff.” In a Los Angeles Times interview, Zendaya and co-star Zac Efron describe training at Circus Warehouse in New York, and Efron recalls seeing her execute trapeze moves early in that training.
The actors’ own account is more detailed than the usual “real stunts” headline. They describe ropes, weights, harnesses, supervision, bruises from the work, and stunt crew members catching them during aerial movement. That combination is the accurate picture: physical training and real performance, backed by rigging and safety support during the filming.
The rig behind the flying shots
Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey gives the most specific technical description in the available material. In an interview with British Cinematographer (the publication date is not established in the material reviewed), he credits key grip Richie Guinness and stunt coordinator Victor Paguia with building a special rig: “My key grip, Richie Guinness, and our stunt coordinator, Victor Paguia, developed a special rig that allowed Zendaya to be suspended off one end of a 10-foot truss and a Libra Head on the other.”
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According to McGarvey, the stunt team moved that truss around the circus ring while the camera ran. He also describes a shot in which Zendaya swings from about 100 feet away toward the camera, photographed on a Phantom Flex at 500 frames per second. Those are his descriptions of specific production shots. They show how the physical flight was built; they do not establish that every frame of the finished number was captured in exactly that way.
What the sources do not settle
- Whether wires or rigging were removed or painted out in the finished frames of the number.
- Whether any digital stand-in or digitally altered body movement appears in the sequence.
- Which individual shots used the truss rig, the harnesses, or other support.
Without that shot-level information, claims that the finished image contains no digital assistance, or that it was entirely digital, both go beyond the evidence.
Where CGI and visual effects were used
The film’s effects work is documented by several vendors and artists, and it covers more than the aerial number. The categories below are the ones named in the production accounts.
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Circus animals and showgirls
Visual effects studio MPC says it handled the scenes with circus animals and created CG elephants, lions, horses, snakes, and showgirls. Where actors appear to ride elephants and horses, the practical setups, which included scissor lifts and karts, were replaced with CG animals.
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MPC also describes creating a CG steam train and enhancing or rebuilding period environments. One example it gives is converting modern downtown New York into a 19th-century snowstorm setting.
Theater crowds for Jenny Lind’s performances
Visual-effects artists Steven Weigle, John Bair, and Aaron Raff describe crowd tiling and augmentation for the large theater performances connected to Jenny Lind. Their work included adding crowds to photographed miniature theater sets, which allowed a modest number of performers to read as a full house.
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Set extensions and the Brooklyn flyover
RodeoFX visual-effects supervisor Martin Lipmann describes set extensions and a practical miniature of Brooklyn used for a flyover shot. That shot was built by combining miniature photography with compositing and live-action elements. His account stresses the mix of physical miniatures and digital work rather than a purely digital view.
How to read the split
The clearest way to sort the film is by element. The table below separates what is documented as practical from what is documented as digital.
| Element | Documented practical work | Documented digital work | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zendaya’s trapeze work in “Rewrite the Stars” | Trained trapeze; performed aerial moves; suspended from a 10-foot truss rig with a Libra Head counterweight; ropes, weights, and harnesses used in parts; stunt crew catching during movement | Not itemized in the material reviewed; no shot-by-shot effects list published | McGarvey interview; Wallen; Los Angeles Times interview with Zendaya and Efron |
| Circus animals | Actors positioned on scissor lifts and karts for riding scenes | CG elephants, lions, horses, and snakes replaced practical setups | MPC |
| Showgirls | Performers on set | CG showgirls | MPC |
| Steam train | Not stated in the material reviewed | CG steam train | MPC |
| Jenny Lind theater crowds | Photographed miniature theater sets | Crowd tiling and augmentation added to those sets | Weigle, Bair, and Raff |
| Brooklyn flyover | Practical miniature photography | Compositing with live-action elements | RodeoFX (Martin Lipmann) |
| Period New York | Photographed modern downtown New York as the base plate | Conversion to a 19th-century snowstorm setting | MPC |
Why the film mixes the two so freely
The film’s own framing explains the approach. The production notes describe it as a musical reverie and “an ode to dreams, not a biopic.” Director Michael Gracey has described it as “Cirque du Soleil meets Shakespeare in a way.” McGarvey’s stated aim was to “take the real and transform it into this vivid, imaginative, magical Technicolor realm.”
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That is why the question of “real or CGI” has a layered answer. The performers did real physical work, and the frame was then shaped deliberately toward a heightened, theatrical look. Treating every visible image as either fully practical or fully digital misses how the film was built.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Limits of the available evidence
No authoritative figure has been published for the film’s total number of CGI shots, the share of the film made with digital effects, or the percentage of Zendaya’s performance that was digitally altered. Any such number you encounter online should be checked against a named production source before it is repeated.
If you want to verify a specific moment yourself, watch the aerial number in the film and compare it with McGarvey’s shot descriptions, then look for credits from the named vendors. That approach will tell you more than a generic claim that the whole film was real or the whole film was digital.
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(Note: the interviews with McGarvey, Zendaya, and Efron were published in the trade and press outlets named above. Publication dates for the McGarvey interview are not established in the material reviewed.)
In short, Zendaya did real trapeze work with rigging and safety support, while CGI and visual effects were used for animals, trains, crowds, and environments.
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