Turning Jamie Clayton into Pinhead for Hulu's new Hellraiser movie was a process that took no less than four hours, and you can see how it went from start to finish in a new video from behind the scenes. Beginning with the actress free of makeup and ending with her sporting the full Pinhead look, the timelapse video showcases the entire transformation. You can check out that video below.
"The makeup takes four hours to do, and about 45 minutes to an hour to remove," Clayton explains in the featurette. It's a lot of prosthetics and the suit is very heavy, and it's very tight, and very constricting."
She adds, "But it's so beautiful. Oh, it's wild."
Clayton marks her debut as Pinhead with her role in the film, becoming the fourth person to play the part following Doug Bradley, Stephan Smith Collins, and Paul T. Taylor. While the Hulu film introduces a new Pinhead, the movie welcomes back the franchise's creator, Clive Barker, who served as a producer on the film. David Bruckner directed using a screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. The new cast also includes Odessa A'zion, Brandon Flynn, Goran Visnjic, Drew Starkey, Adam Faison, and Aoife Hinds.
The Makeup Is Just Half of the Transformation
Four hours in the makeup chair will get Jamie Clayton looking like Pinhead, but to truly get into character, the actress needed to channel the character mentally as well. In a previous interview with Screen Rant, Clayton spoke about how putting pins on her face was just half of the process of getting into character. She also needed to get into the Cenobite's mind which included isolating herself from the cast and focusing only on thinking as Pinhead.
"Once I'd have the makeup on and the whole thing, it was a double-edged sword getting there mentally and then also getting there physically," Clayton said. "The suit and the neck and the fit, it all helps me get there physically. But David and I had many conversations about the Priest's intentions, and what she might be thinking or feeling in any of these different scenes with these different characters. We talked about them a lot, so I was able to sort of mentally prepare on the day, as going in through makeup."
She then explained, "Then once the neckpiece goes on, I'm kind of in it. From the minute that I step out of the makeup trailer, I'm really in it for the duration of shooting. I'm just very quiet, and I isolate myself. I really only would talk to David while I was shooting, and then to Sierra in a corner."
Hellraiser is now streaming on Hulu. After a strong debut, the film has been garnering a lot of praise from critics and horror fans alike with many touting it as the best film in the franchise since Clive Barker's original. The future of the franchise remains unclear, but with a positive reception, chances are we haven't seen the last of Clayton's Pinhead.