The level of craft in the film Nosferatu is really top notch, it shows in every aspect of the film. The layers of detail are meticulously researched and perfectly executed.
Director Robert Eggers oversaw every aspect of this film with laser focus. A hit film that has critical acclaim and has been nominated for Best Cinematography, Costume Design… David White, Suzanne Stokes-Munton and Traci Loader did the makeup and hair with absolute authenticity and skill. Stokes-Munton and Loader recently spoke to Immersive via Zoom.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length]
Let’s start the conversation about Nosferatu with a few words about director Robert Eggers…
Suzanne Stokes-Munton: He knows exactly what he wants. He does an enormous amount of research. It’s not only pictorial, it’s editorial research of the period and the subject matter. He is also incredibly inclusive, so collaboration is constant.
Traci Loader: He starts with his look books and you get a sense of the direction he wants to go in, and then we go and elaborate on that. He’s very open to suggestions and working together, and then you kind of grow from that. He’s a good leader and he’s easy to talk to. You can go to him with any question.
What did some of the research and the look books look like?
Traci Loader: For me, it was a lot of the references, paintings and drawings, and stuff that he did because there’s not a lot of photographs from that era. We tried to keep it realistic and grounded in that era and what people experienced then. The character traits like the possession scene and the breaking down like psoriasis and cuts on Simon McBurney and the nicotine stains on Willem Dafoe. Researching what those things look like in real life.
Let us talk about working with Lily and Emma who look very much like the period, and are very interesting looking.
Suzanne Stokes-Munton: It was a joy to work with both of them. Robert had a lot of references with a hairstyle he particularly liked for Lily, but I suggested it would be better on Emma. I felt it would be too distracting on Lily, the v front – too much of a nod to Dracula.
So we gave it to Emma and it was also to contrast with, Lily’s hair she could probably have done it herself, whereas Emma had a staff of servants. It was to push that difference so that you see the degradation that occurs because of Orlock’s presence and how it impacts the family’s situation.
I’m curious about both of your takes on the element of class in this story. Linda Muir mentioned this when I interviewed her…
Suzanne Stokes-Munton: That has to reflect in the hair. So it does reflect in Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character where I made his hair look like Ludwig, The Sun King. It heightened his character to have that look against Nicholas Hoult, which is softer.
Traci Loader: I’ll kind of combine both of them, with the class element, it didn’t influence me as much on me because we were keeping them of the era. The only class difference would be the facial hair, whereas Aaron’s is more stylized, and Nick’s is more simple, just like the longer sideburns.
With the girls, it was keeping them beautiful, and especially Lily keeping her luminous and kind of ethereal throughout the whole thing, even through all her possession scenes and in and out of them. Even when she’s pale she’s like luminous and porcelain.
Were there any scenes that would you say were harder to pull off than others?
Suzanne Stokes-Munton: The way Robert works, everything is heavily rehearsed, so for me hair-wise it’s good to have that info. When Lily’s in bed she does the table effect maneuver, and then she comes straight into the camera. I have to be aware of the whole action so that you don’t get hair all over the face and it’s distracting. The most challenging scene was of Lily lying in the bed at the end of the film. It was five hours and that blood came out of every orifice of Orlock. So it was quite challenging to restore the wig for the next day.
Any favorite moments that you watched and went, wow I did good there?
Traci Loader: After I watched the movie, I emailed Robert and was like, did you do CGI or VFX to clean up at any of my work or anything like that? And he was like, no that’s all you.
What’s it like being on the other end of this and being nominated for an Oscar?
Traci Loader: It’s been a crazy overwhelming journey, but it’s also very rewarding. Suzanne and I were talking about this when we were just in New York and LA, we came across all these Nosferatu TikTok and Instagram videos… Also, there was an article in InStyle Magazine about how Nosferatu’s costumes, hair, and makeup have influenced Spring fashion. It’s flattering and honoring that it made that much of an impact.
Suzanne Stokes-Munton: I have to say it’s a huge honor to be nominated by my peers, you know? I’ve kind of already won I think, you know, in that respect, I’m just so honored. To be recognized is, is a huge honor.
Nosferatu is still playing in theaters and is also available on home video.
