Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Sets New Record for Most Prosthetics in a Movie

The third Guardians of the Galaxy movie has set a new world record. Per Variety, it’s been revealed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has set a new record for having the most prosthetics used for a single film, surpassing the previous record held by How the Grinch Stole Christmas. To set the new record, there were more than 22,500 prosthetic pieces used, as well as 500 wigs and 130 facial hairpieces. It’s the result of the hard work of makeup wizard Alexei Dmitriew and hair department head Cassie Russek, along with the help of 75-90 makeup artists on set on any given day to help get everyone into character.

“We had two people per prosthetic so we could just keep the times down. On this, we used 22,542 prosthetics, 117 pairs of contact lenses, and 500 wigs,” Dmitriew is quoted as saying.

The makeup process would include transforming Chukwudi Iwuji into the High Evolutionary, the movie’s villain. The actor spoke about how long it took to have his look applied, which required two prosthetic pieces and a headpiece. He also revealed how long it took to turn him into the High Evolutionary.

“[They] blended into my skin,” Iwuji says. “They pulled the prosthetic back into the helmet so it looked like it was my skin being pulled… It started off at under two hours. But within a couple of sessions, they were down to 70-75 minutes.”

“Day in day out, we had about 30 people in makeup, all with masks on with unique makeup,” Dmitriew also says of how many characters had to be transformed on shooting days. “[Actors would wear prosthetics with] intricate 3D-sculpted skull caps. [Batmom] had nails and bat fins, a nine-piece prosthetic makeup, a custom wig, contact lenses and teeth. All the characters had makeup at that level.”

The level of detail spans to the intricate nail art, applied by FX artist Adam Walls. Russek recalls a moment on set witnessing Walls at work, and it had her thinking about when Waterworld made an impact on her as a child because of the film’s attention to detail.

“As a kid, I watched Waterworld, and there was dirt in the nails,” Russek remembered. “That level of detail is something I’ll never forget. So when I walked in and saw Adam making all those nails, I had this full circle moment.”

Related: Exclusive: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Heads of Makeup and Hair on Crafting Standout Characters

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Sets New World Record

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 serves as the final installment of James Gunn’s movie series (even if some actors might go on to appear in other projects in the MCU). Written and directed by Gunn, the film stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Will Poulter, Linda Cardellini, Sylvester Stallone, Nathan Fillion, and Chukwudi Iwuji.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in movie theaters.