Victoria producers spent three weeks making Jenna Coleman's eyes blue
There was something odd about her eyes at the press launch screening…
Victoria producer Damien Timmer says he spent three weeks turning Jenna Coleman’s eyes from brown to blue for ITV's period drama.
Timmer, managing director of Mammoth Productions, and the mastermind behind both Poldark and Victoria, told Radio Times: “Jenna has brown eyes, and Queen Victoria famously had blue eyes.”
This may sound like an issue easily rectified with contact lenses, but it wasn’t that simple. And it wasn’t until the press launch screening – as critics, cast and crew all had their eyes on Coleman on the big screen – that they realised the problem.
Timmer explained: “Despite everyone’s best efforts in post-production, the contact lenses were really obvious and strange – you could see these big plastic rims around her eyes.”
He then spent three weeks picking his way through all eight episodes, frame by frame, and blurring the contact lens edges. “It cost a lot of money and everyone was very cross with me,” Timmer said.
So next time you watch Victoria, take a moment to peer deeply into the eyes of Her Maj.
