Actor Jacob Tremblay, who had to wear prosthetics to play a boy born with facial deformity in his new film 'Wonder', said the role was a challenge for him.
The movie's main character will be played by Jacob Tremblay, an adorable ten-year-old without a facial disfigurement. In order to portray a character with a craniofacial condition, Tremblay wears heavy makeup and prosthetics.
They play out in the experiences of the movie's main character, August “Auggie” Pullman, a 10-year-old boy born with a facial difference he refers to as mandibulofacial dystosis, more commonly known as Treacher Collins syndrome. It is a genetic disorder that most often affects the cheek bones, jaw, chin, and ears.
You might not realize that from watching the movie because he's plastered in next-level makeup and prosthetics. Tremblay gives an outstanding performance, but he doesn't have a facial disfigurement.
Wonder is the story of Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) a boy born with severe facial deformities as he goes to school for the first time in fifth grade.
Is The Wonder based on true events? The Wonder is an invented story, but what inspired it was the very real phenomenon of 'the fasting girl,' who claimed – or was said by others – to be able to live without food.
It's the first time "Auggie" has been to school outside of the home. He was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, which required dozens of surgeries during his first decade of life.
Palacio's New York Times best-seller, Wonder is the story of Auggie Pullman, a young boy — played by Room's Jacob Tremblay, who was just 9 during filming — with Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic condition that affects the face and eyes.
Entering middle school as the new kid is hard, but for Auggie Pullman, the main character in the best-selling middle grade novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio, it's downright terrifying. Auggie has Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare craniofacial disorder that causes major malformations of the face.
Throughout most of the book, Auggie's best friend is Jack Will. Jack was asked by the school principal to show Auggie around at the beginning of the year. At first, he was hesitant to do this, but he and Auggie end up becoming very loyal to each other.
Auggie was born with facial differences, which make him stand out. Auggie enjoys video games, Star Wars, and comic books. Olivia "Via" Pullman- Via is Auggie's fifteen-year-old sister. She attends Faulkner High School.
The movie “Wonder,” based on the New York Times bestseller, premiered worldwide today, and although the movie is fictional, the storyline sheds light on a rare craniofacial condition affecting one in 50,000 newborns: Treacher Collins syndrome.
"They had a neck piece, a face piece connected to a mechanism to make my eyes droop, contact lenses, dentures and a wig," Tremblay told ABC News. "Wearing the prosthetic helped me to become the character." Jacob Tremblay, right, and Julia Roberts are pictured in a scene from "Wonder."
He has sunken cheekbones. He skin looks severely burned on either side of his face. He has many scars from all of his surgeries. He has one large scar from his upper lip to his nose, likely from a surgery to repair a cleft pallet, another common deformity associated with the condition.
Auggie's birth defect, which ranges in severity, is characterized by underdeveloped facial bones that affect his eyes, ears, cheeks, palate and jaw structure. Many patients with craniofacial disorders undergo a series of plastic and reconstructive surgeries every year, starting at a young age.
Most audiences don't realize that every inch of Jacob Tremblay, from head to shoulders, was covered in silicone prosthetics, including dental prosthetics, contact lenses, and a wig to complete the look.
Since birth, he's had 27 surgeries, but his face still looks like it has “been melted, like the drippings on a candle.” Now his parents have decided (not without reservations) that it's time for Auggie to meet the wider world, enrolling him in a private school for fifth grade.
At the end of the book, Auggie's dad admits that he threw away the astronaut helmet that Auggie used to wear when he was younger, because he hated the way it hid Auggie's face.
August Matthew "Auggie" Pullman (b. 10 October 2002) is the main protagonist in Wonder. He was born with a facial deformity, a combination of Treacher Collins syndrome and a hemifacial microsomia, which prevented him from going to a mainstream school up until the fifth grade when he enrolled at Beecher Prep.
The film has been likened to folk horror, with Meara Isenberg of CNET noting its "rural setting, religious foreboding and general sense of dread". Ed Power of the Irish Examiner described it as "Famine trauma meets folk horror", calling it a "gripping film ...
In 1862, English nurse Elizabeth “Lib” Wright is invited to a remote Irish village to verify claims that an 11-year-old girl, Anna O'Donnell, has survived without eating for several months.
