Nosferatu's take on Count Orlok is a far cry from the vampire's classic big screen appearance. However, a drastic reinvention was expected with filmmaker Robert Eggers eager to put a new spin on the classic horror story.
When Nicholas Hoult's Thomas Hutter discovers the Count resting in his sarcophagus, Orlok is fully revealed; Bill Skarsgård dons a bushy moustache, has a skeletal face, and patches of decaying skin all over his body (yes, there's a full frontal nude scene).
Skarsgård, who transformed into Pennywise the Clown in the IT movies, embraced the prosthetics and makeup needed to bring Count Orlok to life on screen in the remake but admits they were a challenge at first.
"I was worried that I couldn't perform through it, that it would feel like giant prosthetic pieces, and I couldn't come alive through that," Skarsgård told Entertainment Weekly. "There was definitely a stage when they hadn't put everything on, where I was like, I look like the f---ing Grinch or a f---ing goblin. I did not like at all how it was translating."
"I, too, think about my career in every aspect of it if I hadn't done Pennywise," he continued. "I've approached characters very differently ever since I did the first It movie. In terms of the prosthetics, that is, in a lot of ways, a very superficial part of the job. It is something that's on top of the surface. In terms of creating something that is incredibly abstract and so far away from what I am as a person, Pennywise was the biggest [at the time]. I think Orlok is an even bigger leap."
Eggers added, "I knew what I wanted Orlok to look like. It happened to be that Bill doesn't really look like that. When [David White] did the sculpt, he put in a lot of care to not overly bulk up Bill's face but still give it the look that I wanted. Bill was like, 'Man, I didn't look like this guy when he was alive,' which was sort of my intention."
The filmmaker, aware of the impact playing Orlok would have on his lead, pushed for him to keep away from his co-stars to help make the transformation that little bit more effective.
"I know that Bill felt at times too lonely when he was shooting It. So, I said, 'You can be Bill on the weekend and hang out with people if you need that, but you're contemporary, and you're supposed to be playing someone who died when they were 50 and is now an immortal creature who cannot be anything but perfect. So, you need to have distance on set.'"
"When he was discussing the inner world of this dead sorcerer to me in detail, it was pretty frightening. And I'm up for anything, really, but I was affected by how deep he dove. So, when he snaps into character, it's heavy, and everyone can feel it. And the makeup design is quite evocative. So, yeah, I think he was an intimidating presence - and needed to be."
A new take on F. W. Murnau's 1922 version and Werner Herzog's take in 1979, Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Written for the screen and directed by Robert Eggers, Nosferatu stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney and Willem Dafoe.
Nosferatu is now playing in theaters.