Nosferatu is the fourth film by auteur Robert Eggars, director of the acclaimed films The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman. It is a hotly anticipated film that will be released by Focus Features on Christmas Day, with a fantastic cast featuring a towering performance by Bill Skarsgård, almost unrecognizable as Count Orlok. Nicholas Hoult turns in a powerful performance as does Lily-Rose Depp, who displays a powerful range of emotions as Ellen, a tortured soul who is the object of obsession of the monster. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and the one-of-a-kind Willem Dafoe round out this excellent cast. The film is a tour de force of period gothic horror with a rich tapestry of cinematography, production, editing, sound design, and rich sumptuous costumes by the amazingly talented Linda Muir. She spoke to Immersive recently via Zoom.
[This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.]
Let’s talk about your relationship with director, Robert Eggers. This very much looks like a Robert Eggers movie, and you are a huge part of that. You’ve done all of his films. So tell me a little bit about how that relationship was forged.
Robert likes to feel simpatico with the people that he’s going to be working with. He has grown this family of collaborators from film to film, and it makes the conversation between all of us much more straightforward. Robert acts as the conduit between departments. We all do constant in-depth check-ins with him and then we check in with each other as things are finalized. It always comes back to the script. He puts so much research detail into his scripts.
Nosferatu is insanely detailed…
There are three distinct cultures and three distinct worlds. There is the 1838 world of Weisberg, Germany, and then the different social classes within that. All of that had to be researched very thoroughly. When Thomas Hutter takes off on his journey, he experiences Romania and within that country, the different counties and areas have distinct cultures.
When we are in prep, I’m usually the one who says we have to pinpoint where this is. So we again, check in with the information that each of us has added to Robert’s already substantial research, and we start to make the choices, make the decisions that end up being the visuals in the film.
I know that the original F.W. Murnau film is a huge touch point for Robert. What meaning does it have for you before this?
I watched it when I was very young. I’m a huge horror fan, more kind of psychological or period horror. So it has the resonance for sure, but it wasn’t as though any of us set out to, other than reading the book, watching the film, watching a whole host of about 30 other films that Robert had in his head for inspiration. So it goes as far as inspiration, but that’s not what we’re replicating. What we are trying to create is an original, but historically, I mean, I hesitate to say accurate. We make it as accurate as we can for the needs that we have.
What was it like creating outfits in coordination with the DP, Jarin Blaschke?
We do these tests because with each of the films, Jarin has new filters that throw curves and the lighting is developed further and the moonlight becomes more realistic and more challenging. Jarin is the one who, along with Robert, really does set the tone for how all of that work will end up being seen. So that’s an important part of trying to talk through how will this end up being altered if we’re shooting this in what is truly beautiful kind of created moonlight color is greatly reduced. The impact of color is greatly reduced in the costumes and the sets.
The use of lilacs was very fascinating…
The lilacs were in the script from the beginning. There’s the lilac she receives from Hutter – those were real lilacs. There are the lilacs that are the color of lilac lavender lilac in the very first dress that she wears in the evening that they go to Hardings in the coach, both her outer cloak and then the dress beneath, and then all of the lilacs that are in her headdress for her veil in the wedding dress. Those are all tiny little handmade silk lilacs that were made just by an amazing woman outside of Florence.
I think the movie is very dark, but with shots of real ethereal beauty. I think those touches stand out when those moments happen.
At the beginning of the last section of Orlok and Ellen coming together, they’re essentially backlit. She’s standing with the moonlight coming in through the window, and her dress is very diaphanous in the top fabrics. Her veil is incredibly transparent. When you have the two of them come together in profile and she’s so much tinier and he’s this completely engulfing presence, it’s such a beautiful moment in the film.
Tell me a little bit about working with some of the actors with the fittings. What was that experience like?
It was fabulous. I’ve worked with Willem before, and he is incredibly specific about understanding the why of his costuming. He’s up for anything and he’s direct. He comes from the theater. I started in theater, and Robert’s first love was theater. Lily Rose was amazing. She was always again interested in the history. Emma Corin was completely interested in why certain things were the way they were. I mean, you always have period clothing that is so different than contemporary clothing in its fitness feel. Where on the body is it touching? I suppose it could be problematic, but I think that I try to listen to what the actors are saying, and I’m not going to force them to have exactly the right amount of padding. We try to work together. We try to say, let’s get the line, but you need to work on it.
I was thinking about movement. How was the movement with some of the outfits? Some of ’em are naturally very restricting.
I think that there were days when Emma, I think was in such pain because of the corset because it’s really hard to wear a corset for that many hours. A corset for a theatrical performance of two and a half hours is very different than a very long shooting day. So we try our best to do things that make the costuming comfortable.
There’s only so much that you can do with the weight of, for instance, Orlok’s cloak, which was all fur-lined and it’s massive. It’s a massive costume piece. We devised a harness that went next to Bill’s body, came out through his inner clothing, and clipped onto the cloak, and it meant that we could do a quick release, and get it off him because his prosthetic makeup was very hot for him. Then you add all the costuming onto it and the hat and everything else and the poor guy was just boiling.
It’s an amazing performance by Bill Skarsgård… What do you hope audiences get out of this film and what was it like now being on the other side of it?
I hope people go to see the film and take away the story, take away the incredible fantasy, the supernatural, and the performances. I hope that they feel transported. I hope that they feel that it is a unique and special experience.
Nosferatu opens in theaters on December 25, 2024.
