Bill Skarsgård's Nosferatu transformation won't be revealed before release

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Bill Skarsgård teases Nosferatu transformationVanni Bassetti - Getty Images

Bill Skarsgård has teased his mysterious Nosferatu transformation, which won't be revealed until the movie's release.

Robert Eggers' upcoming remake features Skarsgård as Count Orlok, the terrifying vampire who is infatuated with a haunted young woman (Lily-Rose Depp). Though the trailer hints at Orlok's horrifying presence, the character's appearance is still being kept under wraps.

"I think the best way to discover Orlok is through the movie for the first time," Skarsgård told Entertainment Weekly. "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."

bill skarsgard
Vanni Bassetti - Getty Images

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"I'd hate to spoil anything," co-star Willem Dafoe added. "The only thing that I thought was really great and felt really fresh is he looks like he could have been from Romania as opposed to a suave English guy or something. He had a look that was rooted in historic accuracy and a folk tradition."

Meanwhile, it's not just fans who have been left in suspense. Before filming began, Skarsgård partially secluded himself from the rest of the cast. To enhance the impact of his transformation, the It actor kept his distance from Depp, Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Ineson on shoot days.

As well as the highly-anticipated first glimpse, fans can look forward to hearing Orlok's distinctive voice, which Skarsgård worked hard to emanate.

lily rose depp, nosferatu
Courtesy of Focus Features

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The star studied with an opera coach to help lower his voice to the desired octave. He recorded voice samples to review with Eggers, which his co-star Nicholas Hoult described as "chilling".

"It was unlike anything I'd heard before," Hoult recalled. "It was chilling to me. Rob [Eggers] was playing it off of his phone, but it still filled the room."

Skarsgård added: "[Eggers] really wanted a very deep, resonant voice. The character is somewhat paradoxical because he's very powerful and demanding, but there's something frail about him, as well, because he's a corpse.

"So the voice needs to be very powerful, but at the same time, there needs to be some sort of fragility or almost pain and labor in his breathing and talking."

Nosferatu is released in US cinemas on December 25 and is released in UK cinemas on January 1, 2025.


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