Eli's different faces (eyes)

[snakefind]

Hi everyone! I've been reading a lot of interesting discussions in this forum, and it has really added to the movie for me. Not having read the book, I didn't really know what to expect, but now that I know some of the details from the book, various things in the movie are starting to make sense.

Anyway, I tried to search for previous discussions on this, and I saw several references to Eli's face changing to that of an old woman at a couple of points. But something I could not find a discussion on was a particular scene I found a bit interesting.

When Eli borrows the Rubik's Cube in the playground and Oscar leaves, her stomach starts making noises, and she bends over in pain or something like that. But when she looks up, there's something odd with her eyes. Or is it just me?

Here's an image for comparison:

http://imgur.com/zKnHL

Bigger:

http://i.imgur.com/zKnHL.jpg

To the top left you can see Eli's eyes in that scene, and I also added eyes from other parts of the movie for comparison.

Is this a different actress perhaps?

[randwill]

Lina Leandersson's eyes were digitally altered in some shots, including those you've posted. They're bigger when Eli is hungry. They have elliptical pupils in the shot where she is in the dark and the light comes on. The brown-eyed Lina also wore blue contact lenses in the film. You can see her real eye color around the pupils in those close-up shots. I believe I have read that her eye color was also enhanced with digitally in some shots.

[Nightrider]

Eli looks different in just about every sequence in the film. Smart move on the part of filmmakers. This helps to establish Eli as a supernatural creature.

[sauvin]

Eli looks different in just about every sequence in the film. Smart move on the part of filmmakers. This helps to establish Eli as a supernatural creature.

It also helps disguise the fact that Leandersson's face is changing shape as a perfectly natural consequence of entering another phase of growth.

[snakefind]

It also helps disguise the fact that Leandersson's face is changing shape as a perfectly natural consequence of entering another phase of growth.

Did it really change that much during the making of the movie?

[Nicro]

I think the film was shot over a reasonably short period of time, so I don't think so. But, yes her face and eyes change a lot throughout the film.

[abner_mohl]

From this thread in Media: http://www.let-the-right-one-in.com/for ... p?f=6&t=21

Q & A with TA and Hoyt van Hoytema, TA explains overdubbing Lina's voice and the use of CGI to manipulate Eli's eyes and the shape of her face when she goes through different phases of hunger.

[rgh]

I believe there are a few posts mixed in here and there that touch on this, but none dedicated to it. Her changing look in the film is fascinating, but even more so is the fact that they used little makeup to achieve many of the effects. I believe a lot of it was done with lighting, shot angels, and a little cgi on the eyes, which I believe were made 10% larger in some scenes.

[sauvin]

It also helps disguise the fact that Leandersson's face is changing shape as a perfectly natural consequence of entering another phase of growth.

Did it really change that much during the making of the movie?

I think so, but it'd be hard to prove. I dont' know if the film was shot in same order as the scenes appear in the movie - I rather doubt it, since this seems rarely to be the case - but sometimes I DO see the girl who's just a bit past ten years old, and other times, I see the woman she's going to be. Children at that age can change dramatically in a very short space of time!

[DarkGuyver]

From this thread in Media: http://www.let-the-right-one-in.com/for ... p?f=6&t=21

Q & A with TA and Hoyt van Hoytema, TA explains overdubbing Lina's voice and the use of CGI to manipulate Eli's eyes and the shape of her face when she goes through different phases of hunger.

That actually explains why Lina looks different at certain parts of the movie. I always thought that they had more than one actress playing Eli, and they just swapped actress for certain parts of the movie. I know they dubbed over Lina voice with another actress mainly due to the fact that Lina's voice sounded too femanie for the role with Eilf Ceylon. I knew they use CGI for the scene when Eli started to bleed after she walked into Oskars apartment without an invitation, but I didn't know that they used CGI for other parts of the movie.