Nathan Stewart-Jarrett spent four hours per day transforming into a drag queen for his new movie Femme.

The Misfits actor plays Jules, who also goes by the drag stage name Aphrodite, in the new thriller, which follows his character’s quest for revenge after he is subjected to a homophobic attack.

During an interview with Cover Media at the Femme premiere in London on Tuesday, Nathan revealed how long it took him to transform into Aphrodite.

“I think make-up took like two-and-a-half hours, costume less time, let’s just call it a nice clean four hours maybe from start to finish, from Nathan to Aphrodite,” he shared.

While the process was long, the 37-year-old noted that he could feel himself changing into Jules and Aphrodite during that time.

“You can feel more like Aphrodite after the eyelashes go on, or the nails, or whatever that would be. It really became part of the process, it wasn’t just sitting in make-up for a couple of hours,” he told reporters at the event.

To prepare for the role, Nathan also contributed to long conversations about hair, make-up and costume with the team, created a 12-hour playlist to inform his character, and watched episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race and performances by Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé to inspire Aphrodite’s stage presence.

Femme, also starring George MacKay, will be released in U.K. cinemas on Friday 1 December.

© Cover Media