The latest hit film in the fantasy genre used far more practical effects than audiences may expect, leaving many actors in the makeup chair for hours a day while others donned full-body dragon suits.
Starring as the red wizard Sofina, actress Daisy Head, 32, is admittedly unrecognisable without her iconic colour-changing cloak and shaven head as she spoke to Express.co.uk at the Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves’ London premiere.
Daisy revealed that Sofina’s otherworldly appearance is “all makeup”, bar some minimal CGI for her magical moments at the end.
Her full makeup and prosthetics process took roughly three hours every morning to put on, but the actress proudly adds that, with practice, the team eventually “got it down to like two, two and a half” hours.
It is clear she is not the least bit aggrieved at her long work days, declaring: “It was so worth it.
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“They’re just a remarkable team and I felt so honoured to wear their artistry. Sofina’s look is pretty breathtaking.”
Similarly, actor Jason Wong is grateful for his makeup transformation, albeit for a different reason altogether.
Working alongside his acting idol, Chris Pine, Jason candidly admits he was “starstruck” on-set and used his makeup as a shield.
He shared: “I’ve got so much makeup on I don’t even notice it’s me!
“That’s probably a good thing because it feels like I’m wearing a mask so I feel more protected.”
In total, it took five hours every day for Jason to transform into the undead soldier Dralas, including the hour and a half to get all of the makeup off before he could go home for the day.
It wasn’t just the antagonists of the tale who enjoyed some transformations on-screen, as the array of outlandish races such as dragonborn, aarakocra (birdfolk) and tabaxis (catfolk) were all brought to life by people in full-body suits.
Actress and D&D veteran Sophia Lillis was in awe of the puppetry work on-set, as she told Express.co.uk: “They built these contraptions, this mask, but actually this whole bodysuit that they puppeteer the dragonborns and the tabaxi.
“They’re all electronic so there’s this guy in the background puppeteering it. They really focused on all the facial muscles so it’ll do like over 100 different expressions on this one face, it was amazing to see.”