Skarsgard was worried he couldn’t perform through the prosthetics, but recalls the moment it all came together.
Warning: This article contains spoilers fromNosferatu.
Count Orlok has arrived.
Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok in ‘Nosferatu’.Courtesy of Focus Features
Courtesy of Focus Features
“I never felt like the character until I had everything on.
So, full makeup and full costume,” he says.
“I remember our second camera test that we did.
Nicholas Hoult (Thomas Hutter) and Bill Skarsgård (Count Orlok) in ‘Nosferatu’.Courtesy of Focus Features
There’s no audio, there’s no voice recording.
It’s just the camera, a lot of candles, and me sitting in a chair.
Once Eggers acknowledged during that screen test, “Yeah, there he is,” Skarsgard felt relief.
Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter in ‘Nosferatu’.Courtesy of Focus Features
“So, you’re terrified because it’s something that you could’t really control.
Either this will come alive, or it won’t.
I can’t force it.
It needs to be there.”
“Which ended up being two years before we actually went into production,” Skarsgard notes.
“That’s pretty close to what he actually looks like in the movie.”
David White, the prosthetics makeup effects designer, sculpted a bust to realize Eggers' vision.
“I knew what I wanted Orlok to look like.
It happened to be that Bill doesn’t really look like that,” he tells EW separately.
I did not like at all how it was translating.”
Once all the pieces were in place and the team finalized the coloring, it started coming together.
“I tend to just go in and record myself just on my phone,” he adds.
“I know that Bill felt at times too lonely when he was shootingIt.
So, you gotta have distance on set.'
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.”
“I’ve approached characters very differently ever since I did the firstItmovie.
It is something that’s on top of the surface.
I think Orlok is an even bigger leap.”
