Watch Jamie Campbell Bower Turn Into Vecna — in Real-Life but Not in Real-Time (Video)

Jamie Campbell Bower had to sit through more than seven hours of hair and makeup to transform into Vecna, the latest villain from the Upside Down that is haunting Hawkins in “Stranger Things 4.”

On Wednesday, the official “Stranger Things” social media shared a 40-second time lapse of the practical effects team assembling the costume, which is broken up into panels that were sealed onto Bower’s body using a blow dryer.

Once all the main panels were pieced together, the team then began to airbrush the tinier details on his head and chest. Bower appears fairly calm throughout the entire process, sipping on a coffee and even answering a few phone calls.

You can check out the full video below.

Vecna was designed by makeup artist Barrie Gower, who was the mastermind behind the Night King on “Game of Thrones” as well as the burn victims of “Chernobyl.” During an FYC panel last month, the Duffer brothers discussed figuring out how to bring the monster to life.

“Once we talked about what the characters were going through and their trauma, that’s when we came up with the idea of Vecna and having more of a sentient monster,” Matt Duffer said. “As in, a monster that is actually speaking, which we’ve never really had before besides some Mindflayer possession stuff where we dipped our toes into it in previous years.”

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Throughout the season’s 13 hours, they estimate that there are only five shots where they used CGI instead. “I would say it’s 95% practical,” Matt said of effects produced physically, without computer-generated imagery or other post-production techniques.

Bower told TheWrap earlier this month that he was “all in” on the role, and the practical effects, from the beginning. “I just was very sure that this was going to be brilliant,” he said.

“I remember the test day for Vecna. Everyone was quite nervous as to whether or not this would all work when we got on camera. Would it be good? And thankfully it was, and there was this collective sigh of relief, I think,” he added. “But I was never like ‘Oh no. Seven and a half hours in makeup? Absolutely not doing that. Get someone else in.’ It sounded like a joy. It sounded like a challenge.”

“Stranger Things 4” Volume 1 is streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 will hit the streamer on July 1.

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