Henry Cavill Rolled In Puddles To Get Dirty For ‘The Witcher’

You always hear stories about actors suffering for their craft, but Henry Cavill may have the most bizarre story of the year. To prepare for his role as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher, Cavill would occasionally roll around in puddles.

Earlier this month The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Cavill about his transformation into Geralt, and they uncovered this gem: “The costumers were, towards the end, quite horrified with me,” Cavill explained. “Before takes I would look at myself and say, ‘We need more dirt on me.’ They’d come up to me with this tiny little — it’s like a pair of tights rolled up into a ball, with some dust in, and they’d sort of pat it on me. And I’d say, ‘Yeah, guys, that’s not enough.’ So I’d go stand out in the rain. Sometimes I’d roll around in puddles. I would just try and get as much of the world on me, so this character looked like he had lived within it.”

To Cavill’s point Geralt is supposed to be a dirty guy. He’s an ancient monster hunter for hire who likes fighting in gross alleys as much as he likes beer. Throughout the Netflix series and in Andrzej Sapkowski’s original novels several characters remark on Geralt’s smell and his bad hygiene. But to learn that Cavill thought to embody this notably gross part of his character is another level entirely.

Rolling around in puddles and standing in the rain isn’t the only way Cavill suffered for his character. The contacts that give Geralt his distinctive look also gave the actor an eye infection.

Throughout Sapkowski’s books Geralt’s yellow eyes are the focus of a lot of attention. The rituals that transformed him into a witcher changed his eyes, making them more catlike. This allows Geralt to see clearly in the middle of the night as well as in direct sunlight. And when his eyes turn jet black, watch out. That subtle change is an indicator that Geralt isn’t holding back his strength.

Basically, eyes are pretty important in The Witcher. To achieve Geralt’s look Cavill wore a specially made pair of contacts on set even when he wasn’t filming. Cavill was insistent on keeping them in to maintain the illusion that he was actually Geralt to his fellow actors. The contacts didn’t give him any trouble until the series started filming in the Canary Islands.

“When we went back to Budapest, [Cavill’s eye technician] took me in to have my eyes checked. It turned out that whatever the dust was, volcanic, it ended up scratching my eye, because it got behind the contacts and was just rubbing there for however long,” Cavill said. “It took about, I want to say three weeks to heal, and then the contacts were back in.”

With that type of dedication, Cavill may have what it takes to become a witcher himself.

Watch The Witcher on Netflix