Jamie Campbell Bower on ‘Stranger Things 5’: Vecna’s new look

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses the plot developments in Season 5, Part 1 of “Stranger Things,” currently streaming on Netflix.

Vecna ​​is back in “Stranger Things 5” and he looks scarier than ever.

Season 4 of the Netflix series introduced Jamie Campbell Bower as the sinister arch-villain in the Duffer Brothers’ Netflix series. While Bower is easy on the eyes as Vecna’s human incarnation, Henry Creel, in full form Vecna ​​is a gruesome monster with vascular gray flesh, a decrepit face and piercing eyes – a fitting prince of the Upside Down.

Due to Vecna’s temporary defeat at the end of season 4 – after Nancy, Robin and Steve shot his body and set it on fire – he returns in season 5 looking even more gruesome. When he makes his full body debut in the fourth episode of the season, he appears larger, with a more skeletal frame made up of veins, bones, muscles and ligaments intertwined in a hideous image.

Naturally, Vecna’s new look required a new level of special effects, both digital and practical. “This season was definitely more of a mix between practical and CG,” says Bower Variety. “On a practical level, the face is all prosthetics, the shoulders are prosthetics, the hands are prosthetics, but everything else is a morph suit.”

Turning Bower into the monster was a collaborative process between the actor and the makeup, special effects, costumes and concept art teams. Bower credits prosthetic makeup department head Barrie Gower, costume designer Amy Parris and concept artist Michael Maher for their ingenuity in bringing Vecna ​​to life.

Bower recalls talking to Gower to ensure that although he would no longer be in full costume during filming, “Vecna ​​still has the presence he had when I first stepped on set – I want to make sure I’m still big.” Gower added shoulder pads to the costume and “two big blocks on the side of the suit,” he added, so that Bower’s arms “were, of course, just a little bit further away from the body,” allowing Vecna ​​to maintain an organically menacing port. Meanwhile, Parris made sure Bower had two inches of elevation in his boots so that Vecna ​​towered over the rest of the characters.

It was a different experience playing Vecna ​​this time, as the new prosthetics and technology required a smaller layer of latex covering the actor. Bower recalls that in Season 4 he had “an inch and a half of foam latex to get through,” while Season 5 only required “a millimeter.” This allowed for more fluidity and a smaller membrane through which its performance could translate.

Still, a few features remained the same, most notably Vecna’s sinister voice, which is also provided by Bower. Bower developed the voice in season 4, based on Doug Bradley’s performance as Pinhead in the ‘Hellraiser’ films. “Doug is great as Pinhead and those first three [‘Hellraiser’] movies are incredible,” he said. “I often sent the Duffers the gif of ‘Hellraiser III’ where he says, ‘I am the road’ before the windows blow. That was often at the end of an email.”

Bower also strove to maintain his relationships with his co-stars, especially since he shared scenes with so many young actors playing Vecna’s terrified victims. “You definitely don’t want them to be scared all the time,” says Bower, “but there are times when it’s necessary for the scene.”

He credits the copious scenes he shared with Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven in season 4 for allowing him to fine-tune this balance. “Millie is extremely receptive and that makes her an incredible actor,” he says, “it’s like what she’s experiencing is always real, so within that there were definitely moments where we were working and she was in complete fear, which is obviously something that you need and want for the scenes. It’s important, but also, as her friend and someone who loves her, I don’t want her to feel that way and there were certain moments where we did that and she said, ‘Oh,’ No, I know now that you I feel safe because I can smell your cigarettes.’”

Those check-ins were crucial to keeping filming a positive experience, and even though Vecna ​​is the antagonist of the series, Bower still feels a kinship with his co-stars and the crew of ‘Stranger Things.’ “We’re all such a family, you know. It’s one of the most amazing things I think I’ve worked on,” he reflects. “Because Matt and Ross are both incredibly intellectually intelligent and emotionally incredibly intelligent, but are also incredibly passionate, hard-working people, it makes us all say, ‘Yes, let’s do this together. We’re in this. Let’s bring our A-game.’ And within that we just become a fantastic team and, like I said, a family.”