Jones has played so many different monsters that he was starting to have a bit of character fatigue when del Toro approached him about playing the fish man in Water. According to NPR , he had to ask himself, “How do I make this one different from everything else that I've played?” The answer starts with finding what Jones calls “the silent voice,” which is the way in which the creature carries itself; its body language. To do this he spends hours alone in a dance studio, slowly constructing the character’s posture and how it moves. It all comes together once he’s on set in costume, in front of the camera. The fish man was quite unlike any of the other monsters he's played in that, as he told Vulture , he had to be sexy on top of being “inhuman and feral.” Luckily, the costume department helped him out. They gave him what Jones describes as “the best ass I’ve ever had.” According to Jones, Octavia Spencer said “Mmmm!” every time he walked by. Mission accomplished.