Niall Matter Reveals The Process of Becoming Rip Van Winkle For Hallmark's 'Rip in Time' Movie

Niall Matter is all bearded up and deep in character in this shot from his new Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film, Rip in Time.

While chatting with MediaVillage about his fable-inspired character, the 41-year-old actor explained that the beard actually helped him a lot in getting into Rip’s mind.

“Once [I saw myself] transformed into that person, with the hair and the beard, then standing up for the first time and looking in the mirror with all that and the wardrobe, it instantly took me back to his time period and made falling into the character very easy,” he shared.

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Niall added that “the first time we did it, it took about an hour and a half to transform me fully.”

“Then the hair/make-up team got more familiar with the beard placement, as it was all done in separate pieces and different layers, all placed to look real. Then the hair; there were a lot of different pieces involved in that too,” he said. “But from there, seeing it all together with the wardrobe, I knew how a person would carry themselves, and because of that, I tried to carry myself throughout the film that way. Even when Rip was [eventually] in modern clothes, I kept the posturing and the body position similar to how it was in his historic wardrobe.”

In the same interview, Niall also spoke highly of his co-star, Torrey DeVitto.

“I was flabbergasted at how talented she is,” he shared. “My character is such a character, and there was so much acting involved on my part, it kind of felt like there was a weird juxtaposition on set because [her character] is so grounded.”

Niall went on, “It’s because she’s so talented, it often felt like she wasn’t acting. I never wanted to distract from the realness of her performance when playing such an outlandish [guy]. But we found the perfect balance. Working with her was an absolute pleasure. I felt like we’d been friends forever.”

Here’s a quick summary of Rip in Time: When organic farmer Sarah meets a man who claims to be from 1787 named Rip Van Winkle Jr., she soon discovers old fashioned romantic feelings that might be just as crazy as his story.

Rip in Time will air Sunday, May 22 at 9 p.m. on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

Niall and Torrey were spotted filming the movie just last month in NYC!