New video of Benedict Cumberbatch shooting motion capture for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will surely tickle fans of the beloved actor thanks to his wonderful facial expressions.

In a new behind the scenes video looking at the making of The Hobbit sequel, Cumberbatch lays on the ground of a studio floor and lets himself become completely consumed by Smaug the dragon. Watch below:

The actor is wearing a motion capture suit and several motion capture markers on his face so that animators can capture his movements and convert them into something usable for the CGI dragon found in Smaug.

What surprised us about this video is that Cumberbatch’s dragon voice is very close to what we saw in the final film. We assumed that many audio effects were added to Smaug’s voice when he spoke to Bilbo (Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman).

“The other secret weapon that we had with Smaug beyond the design is that he’s a talking dragon,” says director Peter Jackson in the clip. “We could use his personality to our advantage. So we were looking for an actor was not just going to voice a dragon that we would imagine a dragon would sound like. We wanted someone who would do something original, unexpected, something that was a surprise to us.”

Today’s behind-the-scenes clip from Smaug comes off the film’s Extended Edition DVD/Blu-ray set which hits store shelves on November 4. You can pre-order now on Amazon.

Meanwhile, The Hobbit finale The Battle of the Five Armies opens in theaters in December. Will we get more Cumberbatch mo-cap footage when that film’s Extended Edition is released? Let’s hope so!