WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The True Adventures of Wolfboy, available now on digital and on demand.

Jaeden Martell is the kind of actor who seems to disappear into each role he takes on -- and since he started acting a few years ago, he's played some amazing characters. Most recently that has included Bill Denbrough in It, Jacob Thrombey, the son of Michael Shannon's character, in indie darling Knives Out and the title character, a 16-year-old accused of murder, in Defending Jacob. Yet with The True Adventures of Wolfboy, Martell takes things to another level. As Paul, a 13-year-old who suffers from an excessive hair growth condition, Martell's face is covered by the furry stuff, making it impossible to see his expressions. Yet Martell manages to more than make up for this deficit with a nuanced performance that relies heavily on the emotion he conveys through his eyes.

In a conversation with CBR, Martell discussed his unique character in The True Adventures of Wolfboy, shared his experiences wearing -- and acting in -- all that hair and reminisced about Knives Out and Defending Jacob.

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What were your thoughts when you first read the script for The True Adventures of Wolfboy?

Jaeden Martell: When I first read the script, I think I was drawn mainly to the characters and how unique they were. I've never watched or heard about a movie with someone with this condition, excessive hair growth. And I don't see a lot of movies about transgender people, and just outcasts in general. And so I thought it was a really powerful and interesting movie with a message that can resonate with anyone, anyone who feels different, but it was executed in a very unique and new way.

What made you want to take on the role ultimately?

I think maybe the main reason I wanted to become this character was because he was quite different from me. Actually, it was our differences that made me attracted to him. And I wanted to live in a character that sort of listened to himself. And he has a lot of anger towards the world because it hasn't treated him very fairly throughout his life. But beyond that, I was really attracted to the way that he changed throughout the story and how he became more comfortable with himself and how the characters around him made him a better and happier and more confident human.

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I have to ask, what was the makeup process to become Paul like, because that did not look easy.

[Laughs] No. It took about three and a half hours to put it on. Half an hour to take it off. And it was a long, pretty tiring process.

Did you ever go out in the makeup?

A little bit. I got to experience that just after being put in the makeup, walking around, and I got to walk a little bit on the street and just walking to set, like walking a block. And just from that you get to experience the way people look at you and how they treat you. Somebody would be like, "Oh my God, it's a dog boy." And people would make fun of me. It's a little bit embarrassing, but for me I felt defensive because it was Paul, and they weren't making fun of me, but they were making fun of my character, and it made me relate to him and how he felt. And so I got to do a little bit of that, walking around the city and seeing how people reacted to the hair.

I'm sure the makeup helped, but were there other things that helped you get into character?

There are other things that I rely on, but honestly the greatest thing that helps, that sort of made me forget about all of the other things that I would've done as an actor, it was the makeup and the fact that it was, not just the experience of people looking at me, but me becoming frustrated with my hair because it was sort of restricting my ability to act sometimes, because they were gluing all this hair to my face and it became hard to move and made me feel uncomfortable. And that pushed me to understand the underlying anger that Paul has throughout the movie. So I really think that the main factor when I started working, the makeup sort of took control of the process as an actor and sort of became more into that than I would have with any other character.

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As you said, Paul has a lot of underlying anger and he ends up doing some pretty bad, illegal things when he leaves home. How did you understand those choices?

Yeah, that's a good question. I think sometimes it's good not to always relate to your character. It's good to separate yourself from the character. And I didn't agree with his decision to -- I don't know how much I want to give away -- but I didn’t agree with the first illegal decisions he made personally. So I had to, in order to do it as an actor, I had to really push myself to think of why he did it and why he’s so angry. And that made me understand his anger a little bit more and how humiliated he felt and how he was just fed up with everyone treating him the same. The first time he lashes out at the circus, it's the first time he stands up for himself because he's so used to running away, so it was sort of a proud moment even though he did some destructive things.

You work with some incredible actors in this movie. What was it like working with John Turturro, Chloë Sevigny and Chris Messina?

It was awesome. It was a great learning experience for me. And the incredible thing is they, all three of those characters, they didn't really interact with each other too much, and so I got to work with them on separate days and in different environments and when Paul was in a different headspace. I got to see them all in a different light and they all brought something completely different to the film.

Chris Messina was very warm and tender and subtle. And I learned a lot from how he creates intimacy between himself and the other actors and director. And then with John Turturro, I got to see how theatrical and intense and intimidating his character was, and how he embraced that. And just saw how he adapted as an actor. So it was really cool to work with all these people because they were all so different, and they brought a new energy to the entire film.

Were you ever intimidated by Turturro's character?

Yeah, [Laughs] for sure. [My] character is very quiet in the beginning. There's a common theme throughout the movie where, when he speaks people ask him what he says and he has to speak up, and often I’m like that too, and so this character is very timid and quiet. And John Turturro taught me how to be louder, and his character taught my character how to be louder as well, and how to up my energy. I had to match him, I had to keep up with his intensity. So I was definitely intimidated, but I think it definitely helped me grow as an actor and helped Paul grow as a character.

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You've been acting most of your life. What do you continue to enjoy about it?

I don't know. It's hard to explain this. I enjoy becoming new people and I don't think any other job in the world lets you experience as many things as an actor is able to experience because, you know, for a couple months I get to be a boy with an excessive hair growth condition and sometimes I get to… You learn new things and become new people and you see the world in different ways and from different perspectives. So I think I enjoy learning and I enjoy the spontaneity of being an actor and that my life is constantly changing.

You've been in some amazing projects in the last couple of years. What was it like filming something like Knives Out?

That was an amazing experience. It was awesome. It was just so cool to work with all of those incredible people. And beyond being amazing legendary actors, they're all super kind. And I felt like it was a masterclass in acting and I got to basically sit back and watch them do their jobs. And it was simple things I learned, like just watching Jamie Lee Curtis and the actions that she took when she wasn't even speaking, or when she wasn't even on camera, but she would sit there and she would do things like check her watch, which sounds so stupid and so simple, but you forget about things like that. You forget about the simple things. So I learned a lot from being able to sit there and be in a room with them, and also how they conducted themselves as people.

What about Defending Jacob? That seemed like a challenging role.

Yeah. That was definitely a difficult part. And I think the fun thing about that show is that I was forced to think about my character beyond what the camera was seeing and beyond what the audience was seeing. I had to really figure out who he was because so much of that character lies in the subtext, so I was forced to think about it. I couldn't possibly go on set and just be myself or be natural, I had to really think about who Jacob was and his relationship with his parents and whether or not he's constantly lying or telling the truth. And I thought that was a lot of fun and a big challenge.

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Did you come to a conclusion about whether he was lying or telling the truth?

[Laughs] I have, but I have vowed not to tell anybody for a long time.

Fair enough. Do you have a dream role you'd like to play at some point?

I would like to play somebody maybe similar to Jacob in a way that he might have some mal-intent or somebody that's possibly a murderer or something interesting like that, but more explosive. Because I got to experience that a little bit with Defending Jacob but you never know his true intentions, so I want to be someone who's really explosive and outgoing. I think that would be really difficult to be honest, but a lot of fun.

At this point, are your plans to keep acting as you get older?

Hopefully. I want to. I never take it for granted, so my wish is to continue acting, but we'll see what happens.

Directed by Marin Krejcí and written by Olivia Dufault, The True Adventures of Wolfboy stars Jaeden Martell, Chris Messina, Eve Hewson, Michelle Wilson, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sophie Giannamore, Chloë Sevigny and John Turturro. It is available on digital and on demand.

NEXT: Defending Jacob Season 1 Mysteries That Went Unanswered