Phillip Schofield made the make-up team behind ‘Game of Thrones’ spend four hours transforming him into the Night King for ‘This Morning’s Halloween special today.
The 55-year-old presenter was desperate to make this year’s eerie episode "bigger and better" than last year’s and, while his co-host Holly Willoughby opted for a relatively-easy ghostly unicorn, he made the producers go to extreme lengths to ensure that he could dress as the silent HBO series’ supreme leader this morning (31.10.17).
Speaking on show, he said: "I’m a massive fan of the show. The chance to do this was something I couldn’t possibly pass up. Because the Night King doesn’t speak, we all agreed that the first he spoke it wouldn’t be a brilliant idea if he spoke in my voice! So, I’m remaining totally in character. This has taken weeks in the planning. It’s the real deal. The whole team who put the Night King together for HBO and ‘Game of Thrones’, did it for me. This has taken a lot of work to put together. I can’t believe they said yes!"
But, while it took a lot of planning and preparation, Game of Thrones’ Prosthetic Make-up Designer Barrie Gower thoroughly enjoyed having Phillip on board.
He explained: "Phillip’s had two fittings beforehand, one for the prosthetics and one for the special hand-painted contact lenses. We had to re-cast the nose as Phillip’s nose is slightly smaller than the actor’s. We use medical glue and medical silicone rubber for the prosthetics. I believe, this is the first time a British celebrity has ever been made-up by the official team. It’s certainly the only time I’ve made someone into the Night King. So it’s a real honour. We’re glad Phillip loves the transformation!
"It takes us just as long, four hours, to get the actor on the show into the Night King make-up. It’s a lot of early starts on set! I joined ‘Game of Thrones’ since Season Four and we’re now on Season Eight. We do all the prosthetics for the whole show and start working months ahead of filming. On any given morning, I could be doing the Night King and some White Walkers and some stuntmen as Wights (zombies)."
Phillip Schofield is Game of Thrones’ Night King for Halloween special
