What we did was basically cut out the on-set creature's face and had Jason wear these red LED glasses, so at least we could see a representation of his glowing eyes, knowing we were going to replace that later with some CGI, and then voice it over with Willem. On set, Jason Liles is basically doing all of the mannerisms of Ryuk. He's speaking the lines to the actors, so that they're actually working off of somebody. They're not just working off of nothing. That really helps their performances. And ultimately, a character like this, what really brings it to life is how other people interact with it.

For me, it was really important that [Dafoe] felt free to be able to try a lot of different things, and give it a different attitude, depending on how he felt in the moment. And it really came together very quickly. Ultimately, that character really starts from the laugh and works its way up from there. It almost starts at the laugh, you know what I mean? Once we heard the laugh for the first time, we were all in.

I also should mention one thing. It wasn't just a straight ADR session with Dafoe. We actually did a full motion-capture session with him, so that his face is absolutely Ryuk's face. The motion of the CGI character is Willem Dafoe, so it is his performance that you are seeing on screen.