How a British dental technician became Hollywood's go-to guy for special effects teeth

He’s brought vampires to blood-sucking life (Nosferatu, Blade, several Draculas), rendered dentures to resurrect real-world figures including Napoleon and Nelson Mandela, and perfected pairs of zombified teeth for World War Z, The Last of Us and, most recently, 28 Years Later – continuing the work he began on the post-apocalyptic franchise in 2002.

“For the original 28 Days Later,” says Lyons, “the zombies had their jaws locked open, so we developed a safe breakaway segment that wouldn’t endanger people during action scenes. Spin forward to 28 Years Later, and there are now three types of infected, so three different styles of teeth – some dirty, some broken, some missing.

“We also did Shaun of the Dead,” Lyons adds, “where a zombie’s face had been chewed off, so its teeth were visible. We’re currently doing a TV show where there’s no colour to the zombie’s gums – they’re pale and bloodless.

“Each director has a different slant on zombies – it’s the same with vampires. You’ve got Hammer vampires, sexy vampires, and we recently did a project where a vampire had double fangs on each side!”

But Lyons loves a challenge. For many years, he and his father co-owned a dental laboratory, supplying hundreds of UK dentists with crowns, bridges and dentures. In 1983, an optician sought their help in casting a pair of chrome cobalt lenses for Superman III, because they worked with the material in dentistry.

The success of this project led to them creating prosthetic teeth for Sir Ridley Scott’s Legend, starring Tom Cruise. “It snowballed from there. Three years ago, we sold the dental laboratory, and now all we do is film stuff.”

Lyons has almost 1,000 film credits to his name – but his process is always different. Sometimes, an actor will even contact him directly for a pair of false teeth, and surreptitiously wear them on set to get into character.

“We made a pair for William Hurt for Lost in Space,” says Lyons. “Halfway through filming, he asked the director, ‘What do you think of my teeth?’ He hadn’t realised! But that’s just what some actors want.”

Officially, the make-up designer will bring Lyons on board. He’ll usually be sent a detailed brief, but has also received “drawings on cigarette packets” or been given free rein on a project in the past. “We’re currently doing The Rings of Power,” he says, “and the make-up guys just told me to use my imagination.”

Fantasy is where Lyons flourishes, as the genre breeds invention. The Witcher on Netflix features Lyons’s favourite Fangs FX teeth, worn by Norwegian actor Agnes Born in the show’s second season. “They were on the outside of her mouth,” he says of the vampiric design, “but connected to her actual teeth so she could still articulate them.”

Much like the design process, the fabrication process frequently changes, but it always begins by casting the actor’s mouth or, occasionally, taking a digital, intraoral scan. From this, a plaster model is created.

“On top of that, we’ll sculpt the design in wax, and send it off for approval,” Lyons explains. “Once approved, we’ll make moulds and then create the finished article – using only medical-grade dental materials, and AcrylStains, an emulsion to stain the teeth.

“I’ve got a selection of my favourite teeth in my office, but normally they become the property of the production. I’ve been doing Doctor Who for 20 years, but I’ve not got to keep a single pair!”

Doctor Who isn’t the only British institution Lyons has worked on. Fangs FX created teeth for every Harry Potter film (and is currently working on the new HBO adaptation). One Harry Potter director even requested Lyons make false fangs for a dog, but these were ultimately nixed in favour of an animatronic. “Very tricky, very hairy,” he says of the experience.

And then there’s Bond. “Everybody wants 007 on their CV,” says Lyons, “but it eluded me until I got the call to do Skyfall – and Javier Bardem’s false teeth. For the scene where he takes his teeth out, he had to wear two sets, and take out the ‘good’ teeth to reveal the rotten ones. Then visual effects got involved to make it even messier! But, once I got Bond, I was happy.”

Fangs FX also frequently helps to transform actors for biopics – notably recreating the teeth of musicians including Elvis, Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse. Lyons says his highest-profile hour was producing Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury teeth for the 2018 Oscar-winner, Bohemian Rhapsody.

“The lookie-likies can be tough. Freddie Mercury’s teeth are so iconic that there’s a fine line between realism and caricature. We made over 20 sets before we got them right for Rami. Freddie’s real size were far too big, so it was a case of taking them down millimetre by millimetre, adding a little here, taking some off there until we got it.”

Fang FX’s impending toothy titles include Sam Mendes’s Beatles biopics, DC’s Supergirl film, another Game of Thrones spin-off and Netflix’s new Wuthering Heights adaptation. We can add to that next year’s sequel to 28 Years Later, The Bone Temple.

“For which we also did the lead actors,” says Lyons. “That’s something people don’t consider: if characters are living isolated, with no access to toothbrushes or toothpaste, they wouldn’t have Hollywood teeth, so we have to paint them, make them grimier.

“In our line of work, everything’s a challenge – but nothing’s beaten us yet.”

28 Years Later is in UK cinemas from 19th June.

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