Nicolas Cage's transformation in Longlegs is being kept a secret for audiences, and lead star Maika Monroe had a similar experience on set.
The horror movie – which holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating – sees Monroe play FBI agent Lee Harker, who is recruited to hunt down a satanic serial killer known only as Longlegs (Cage) after a decades-long murder spree.
To capture a genuine reaction, the actor didn't get to see how Longlegs looked until they shot a pivotal scene in the movie.
"I'm sure I had an idea in my head of the visual, but it was just so much greater than anything I could have ever imagined, seeing him and especially his performance. It was incredible," Monroe told Digital Spy.
Related: Longlegs confirms UK release date
"People often ask if it's scary being on a horror movie set. No, of course, it is not at all, but I feel very lucky to have had this particular experience because – of course, there were nerves – there was a visceral reaction that I had to seeing him for the first time.
"It was quite cool that we got to capture that on camera. It was an experience I will never forget for sure."
Cage is unrecognisable as Longlegs, not just in terms of performance but also physically as he disappears under impressive special effects make-up.
When he was writing the script, writer/director Osgood Perkins had an idea for how he wanted the titular serial killer to look, but he added that he "happily" welcomed ideas from everybody else involved in the movie.
"It's written in the script that he's been busted by plastic surgery, like, bad approximate plastic surgery, so that's on the page, and that's in everybody's mind as it is," he explained to Digital Spy.
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"When you get the special effects make-up people going and you get Nic involved and he wants to disappear under a thing, you've got a template that you're thinking of, but then the stuff starts to roll in and everybody's doing their own thing.
"It evolves, but it starts with a clue on the page, and the clue was busted by bad plastic surgery, and let's see what happens from there."
As for the casting of Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, Parker added that he was "happy and lucky to have her" due to her ability to act without a lot of dialogue.
"Maika is one of these actors, and there aren't a lot of them, who can act with their face and act without doing very much with their face and connect with their eyes... that's the kind of film acting I've always liked," he praised.
"That's what Michael Caine would say you should do. That's what Steve McQueen would say you should do. She's super compelling on camera, which is a rare thing."
Longlegs is released in cinemas on July 12.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
