Bill Skarsgård is bringing the undead blood-sucking lore back to life.
Skarsgård leads Robert Eggers‘ highly-anticipated vampire horror film “Nosferatu,” with “The Crow” actor playing the sinister Count Orlok. Eggers writes and directs the reimagining of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 film, which was later remade by Werner Herzog in 1979.
“Nosferatu” stars Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter, a woman whose soul is seduced by the Count (Skarsgård) while her husband Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) fights to save her. The official description for “Nosferatu” reads: “Robert Eggers’ ‘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.”
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe also star.
Longtime Eggers collaborator Anya Taylor-Joy was originally cast in the Ellen Hutter role in 2016. Taylor-Joy exited the project due to scheduling conflicts. Harry Styles was also attached at one point for the part of Thomas Hutter. Eggers previously told IndieWire that the film had “fallen apart twice” before going into production. The COVID-19 pandemic also pushed “Nosferatu” back until after Eggers’ “The Northman” was completed.
Eggers serves as a producer alongside “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse” producer Chris Columbus, plus Eleanor Columbus, Jeff Robinov, and John Graham.
“Nosferatu” was shot on film and marks Eggers’ latest collaboration with Focus Features after his 2022 Viking epic “The Northman.”
“I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while,” Eggers told Empire magazine. “And I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.”
Eggers added that “The Idol” breakout Depp is “absolutely phenomenal” in the film and Skarsgård fully transformed into the blood-sucking legend.
Skarsgård told Esquire that the titular role “took its toll” on him.
“It was like conjuring pure evil,” the actor said. “It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me. It’s playing with a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and what that appeal has to you. Hopefully you’ll get a little bit attracted by it and disgusted by your attraction at the same time.”
“Nosferatu” premieres in theaters December 25 from Focus Features. Check out the teaser below.
