The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman writer/director Robert Eggers‘ remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch it HERE) is set to reach theatres on Wednesday, December 25th – and while there has been a lot of talk about the transformation Bill Skarsgard (It) underwent to play the title character (Skarsgard himself has said that playing Nosferatu / Count Orlok was like “conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me. … I do not think people are gonna recognize me in it.“), it has been confirmed that we won’t be seeing a good shot of the dead Transylvanian nobleman until the movie reaches the big screen.
An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the original Nosferatu has the following synopsis: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home. Werner Herzog directed his own remake of the film in 1979.
Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.
Eggers told Vanity Fair, “This Orlok is more of a folk vampire than any other film version. That means he’s a dead person. And he’s not like, ‘I look great and I’m dead.’ Folk vampires in some ways are more visually similar to zombies. The reason why he looks the way he looks and he dresses the way he’s dressed is because for the first time in a Dracula or Nosferatu story, this guy looks like a dead Transylvanian nobleman . Every single thing he’s wearing down to the heels on his shoes is what he would’ve worn. That’s never been done.” Entertainment Weekly then learned, “Only when audiences arrive in theaters on premiere day this Christmas will the general public see the results of the full hair, make-up, and prosthetics.“
Skarsgard agrees with the decision to keep his character hidden in the marketing. “I think the best way to discover Orlok is through the movie for the first time. The movie functions on that, as well. He lives in the shadows for a long time, and it teases the reveal of the character as the movie progresses.“
Skarsgard is joined in the cast by Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home) as crazy vampire hunter Von Franz, Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol) as Ellen Hutter and Nicholas Hoult (Renfield) as her husband Thomas – a role Skarsgard was going to play at one point. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train) is in there as Thomas’s friend Friedrich Harding, with Emma Corrin (The Crown) as Friedrich’s wife Anna, Ralph Ineson (The Witch) as Von Franz’s cohort Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) in an unspecified role. The first reactions to the film recently made their way online, and they were very positive.
Are you looking forward to Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu remake, and are you glad to hear that Bill Skarsgard’s character is going to be concealed until the movie reaches the big screen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.