Charlize Theron Reveals it Took Intricate Prosthetics to Transform into Megyn Kelly for Bombshell

Charlize Theron‘s nearly identical transformation into Megyn Kelly for the upcoming movie Bombshell took a lot more than just slipping into a costume.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 44-year-old actress, who stars in the Jay Roach-directed Fox News drama, attributed her impeccable change in appearance to “very intricate work.”

RELATED: Charlize Theron Says Playing Megyn Kelly Was ‘Harder’ Than Portraying Killer Aileen Wuornos

Theron told the outlet she worked with “the greatest [special effects makeup artist], Kazu Hiro,” an Academy Award winner for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Darkest Hour and nominee for his work on Norbit and Click.

“It’s really hard to get him to do new stuff,” she explained.

“But I did a lot of begging and he came on and designed eight [prosthetic] pieces for me,” Theron said, adding that two of them “basically covered my entire eyelids.”

She continued that Hiro’s work was especially “intricate,” adding it was the kind of “intricate work where you still need to be able to do what you need to do, like blink.”

Lionsgate Movies; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Lionsgate Movies; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Theron became nearly unidentifiable under her Kelly disguise — so much so, that even her co-star Nicole Kidman, who plays former anchor Gretchen Carlson, didn’t recognize her on set.

“She walked by me at one point and I thought she was mad at me,” Theron told Entertainment Tonight last month. “I thought, ‘Oh god! What did I do? Did I mess something up in her trailer? Did I not say hi nicely?’”

“She just came up to me and she was like ‘Charlize?’ and then I said, ‘Yes are you mad at me?’” Theron added. “She said, ‘No I just didn’t know that was you!”

Lionsgate
Lionsgate

Bombshell — which stars Theron as Kelly, Kidman ⁠as Carlson, and Margot Robbie as a new Fox News worker — tells the story of the women who claim they were sexually harassed by former Roger Ailes, played by John Lithgow. Kelly and Carlson, both former employees of the network, claimed sexual harassment from Ailes during their careers.

RELATED: Charlize Theron Says Nicole Kidman Didn’t Recognize Her as Megyn Kelly on Bombshell Set

The film was screened for the first time in Los Angeles on Oct. 13 and critics are already praising the film and its famous leading ladies.

“BOMBSHELL will make a convincing case for the VICE slot in the Best Picture race,” Kyle Buchanan of The New York Times wrote on Twitter, later adding, “Margot Robbie should see supporting-actress heat for BOMBSHELL, which gives her a meaty arc from true-believer to potential whistleblower. But the film may also catch heat for the character, since she’s a fictional composite handed the film’s most significant sex-harassment scene.”

Hilary Bronwyn Gayle
Hilary Bronwyn Gayle

Even more called on nominations for Theron and her “uncanny” performance of Kelly, which left some viewers “awestruck.”

“Charlize Theron is remarkable as Megyn Kelly. She disappears into the part, owns the movie,” Sasha Stone of Awards Daily News wrote. “The cast of characters are hilariously Fox. Like Game Change and Recount ish. #bombshell”

Bombshell hits theaters December 20.