It’s scary how far some actresses will go to look young and pretty. Tilda Swinton isn’t one of them. Her ability to toss Hollywood’s concept of age and beauty on its head has earned her accolades for more than a generation. Now, with her current transformation, she’s not only outdone herself but pulled a prank on the industry establishment.

Why lie? ‘For the sheer sake of fun above all,’ Swinton said.

In Swinton’s latest, a remake of 70s horror flick Suspiria, she’s the malevolent Madame Blanc—but that’s not all. She also portrays psychotherapist Dr. Josef Klemperer, a role initially credited throughout the production to an 82-year-old first-time male actor named Lutz Ebersdorf. The bogus thespian even got a bio on filmdom’s online database, IMDb.

Tilda Swinton Movies: Never to Be Missed

Tilda Swinton in 1992’s Orlando.

The four-hour makeup job Swinton sat through for the part is nothing new to the Oscar-winner, who has already earned a rep for mind-boggling gender-bending. As far back as 1992’s Orlando, an adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel, she played both a woman and a man as the title character. She made a glittery, convincing David Bowie, performing right beside the late musician in the video for his “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” single. In between, she gleefully got unrecognizable for roles in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Snowpiercer, and Trainwreck.

Earlier this year, rumors began circulating that Swinton was indeed Suspiria’s creepy shrink, but cast and crew did their best to deny, deny, deny, with director Luca Guadagnino calling the gossip “complete fake news.” Swinton kept up the pretense, too, until spilling to the New York Times a few weeks before the fright-fest’s October 26th release.

Why lie? “For the sheer sake of fun above all,” Swinton said, adding, “As my grandmother would have it—a motto to live and die by—’Dull Not To.'”

So even if you feel you’ve outgrown scary movies (or remember being too terrified by the original to risk the remake, which reportedly made some early viewers flee the screening room), you may decide to steel yourself and see Suspiria—for the sheer sake of Swinton.