Nosferatu: An Iconic 1961 Film Inspired THOSE Insanely Erotic Scenes in the Lily-Rose Depp Horror

Written and directed by Robert Eggers, Nosferatu is a gothic horror movie starring Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, and more. The movie is based on Henrik Galeen’s novel of the same name and follows the story of a terrifying vampire’s obsession with a haunted young woman.

Nosferatu is known as Eggers’ passion project. It premiered in Berlin and Germany and was released worldwide on December 25, 2024. Upon release, the movie received critical acclaim for its direction, costumes, cinematography, and performances of the actors. The director talks about one of the cinematic influences of Nosferatu.

Robert Eggers talks about the influence of The Innocents in Lily-Rose Depp-starrer Nosferatu

In a recent conversation with Variety, Nosferatu’s director Robert Eggers was asked about the erotic scenes in the movie starring Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bill Skarsgård, and more. He shared,

One of the biggest cinematic influences on this film is Jack Clayton’s The Innocents, in which all of this sexual stuff is left to the imagination. And it just burns in your imagination. It’s so powerful, but I’ve seen versions of The Turn of the Screw where they do the sexuality explicitly, and it really doesn’t work.

Eggers further added that they were taking a chance in bringing the stuff to the forefront. He added that he thinks a part of what makes it work is how the story is told through the eyes of Ellen, who is the female protagonist. The filmmaker mentioned that it is going to allow greater potential for emotional and psychological complexity because a woman who is a somnambulist surrounds the audience.

Comparing the female protagonist to 19th-century sleepwalkers, the director added that Ellen has an understanding of the other world and other ways of thinking for which she doesn’t have language. This is why she’s isolated, and people find her melancholic and hysterical, but the audience can see her fighting within herself.

I think also maybe because the vampire is physically repulsive, it adds another layer where you have the eroticism mixed with the repulsion in a very clear way. 

The director revealed that he liked Demi Moore’s The Substance, adding that it had a consistent, clear, specific vision and was very well executed.

Robert Eggers explains why he’s glad it took him 10 years to get Nosferatu off the ground

During the conversation with Variety, the filmmaker was asked why he feels glad that he was able to film Nosferatu late in his career; precisely, it took him ten years to get the movie off the ground. He said that it’s the accumulation of knowledge that helps him get his imagination onto the screen with more specificity. He added,

I’ve only made four movies, and it’s not such an illustrious career. But I had more control; it was a story and, frankly, an IP and budget that made it so Focus Features was able to give me an incredible amount of creative freedom and also unparalleled support.

Eggers shared that he feels fortunate that he was in a situation of being able to just make the movie he wanted. He also shared that as soon as he met with Lily-Rose Depp, he knew that she could play Ellen on-screen because she understood the character well.

The filmmaker revealed that Depp had to audition, so they prepared a bit for her audition, but the young actress knew what she was doing. She performed two scenes: the monologue about death at the wedding and then a big crazy scene at the end of the confrontation with her husband.

Eggers admits that the actress was powerful and that’s what he needed for the part.

Nosferatu is playing in cinemas.