Bill Skarsgård On Playing Nosferatu: "It Took A While For Me To Shake Off The Demon”

Courtesy of Richard Shotwell/AP.

An adaption of the 1922 horror classic ‘Nosferatu’ is under way, with Bill Skarsgård acting as Count Orlok and Robert Eggers directing. Reportedly, Skarsgård channeled his undead vampire character to the extreme.

In an interview with Esquire, Skarsgård says that he “conjured” an alter-ego to play villain Count Orlok — in which his character seeks to seduce the soul of character Ellen Hutter, played by Lily-Rose Depp (Anya Taylor-Joy was attached to the role but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts).

“It took its toll,” Skarsgård said about his role. “It was like conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me.”

Writer and director Robert Eggers recalled that Skarsgård was “on a different level” when it came to leaning into the occult aspects of the story.

“I remember early on, him trying to talk to me about what it meant to be a dead sorcerer — and I’m into some pretty heavy occult shit, but he was on a different level,” Eggers said. “I was like, ‘This sounds accurate, but I don’t know how to converse about this with any fluidity.'”

While Skarsgård is no stranger to tapping into darker roles with Pennywise from ‘It’ and Eric Draven in the soon to be released ‘The Crow.’

“I do not think people are going to recognize me in it,” Skarsgård said. “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.”

“Somewhere in that second makeup test, I was like, ‘He’s become the character.’ It was eerie to see in the footage,” Eggers said. “Anything he did, anywhere he turned or looked, you were like, ‘He’s got it.’ ”

“Nosferatu” lands in theatres on December 25, 2024.

Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe are also part of the cast.

Synopsis: A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.