Old Version of ‘Nosferatu’- Bill Skarsgård Almost Played a Totally Different Role in Horror Epic 10 Years Ago Alongside Mads Mikkelsen
- Bill Skarsgård was considered for playing Thomas Hutter in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu almost 10 years ago.
- Nosferatu is Robert Eggers' passion and very personal project.
- The movie has received positive response from critics and the audience.
Created by Robert Eggers, Nosferatu, starring Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, and more, is a gothic horror movie. It is a remake of a silent movie of the same name that was released in 1922 and was inspired by Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. The movie follows the story of an obsession between a young woman and a terrifying vampire who gets infatuated with her, thus causing horror in its wake.
Upon its release, the movie received critical appreciation for its screenplay, direction, and the performances by the actors. The critics have described the movie as ‘exciting, repulsive, and beautiful.’ It holds 86% of the critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Bill Skarsgård recently revealed that he played a whole new character 10 years ago in Nosferatu.
Bill Skarsgård reveals he was booked to play Thomas Hutter in Nosferatu 10 years ago
In his recent interview with Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused podcast, IT actor Bill Skarsgård revealed that he met the director Robert Eggers almost ten years ago when he was initially working on making Nosferatu. He said,
I read the script, and it just blew my mind, and I was like, ‘This is incredible’, and it is so him, and it’s great that the script didn’t change all that much. It was a solidified vision of him.
Bill Skarsgård goes on to say that he had read for Frederick Hardinger’s part in the movie, and then Eggers wanted him to read for Thomas Hutter, which he did, and he got the part. The actor said that 10 years ago he was supposed to play Thomas Hutter, whom in 2024 Nicholas Hoult has played.
Upon asking who at the time was being considered for playing Nosferatu [Count Orlok], he said that a couple of guys were being considered, including Mads Mikkelsen, William Dafoe, Daniel Day-Lewis, and more.
Years later, when Robert Eggers reached out to Skarsgård for a role in Nosferatu, the actor assumed that he was going to play Thomas Hutter just like before, but then he was informed that he was being considered for Count Orlok. The actor continued,
I was like, I know how much this movie meant for Robert Eggers and how personal it is in a lot of ways. It’s his most personal work to date, I think. And the fact that he considered me for it meant a lot.
Skarsgård added that Eggers went on to share his research and his thoughts on the character of Count Orlok, and the actor read the script for the third time for a different character. He added the character was juicy, and then he started to prepare for his character.
Bill Skarsgård talks about playing Count Orlok with prosthetics
In his conversation with EW, the actor spoke about the heavy prosthetics involved in his transformation from Bill Skarsgård to Count Orlok. He shared,
I never felt like the character until I had everything on. So, full makeup and full costume. I remember the second camera test that we did. There’s no audio; there’s no voice recording. It’s just the camera and a lot of candles and me sitting in a chair.
The actor added that they had done a bunch of rehearsals before that, but that was the first time where he felt the cameras were alive, and he could start becoming the terrifying vampire. Skarsgård recalled that the filmmaker who had been willing to make Nosferatu for almost a decade had created a digital drawing of Orlok, which he shared with him during the screen test.
Skarsgård added that Count Orlok looks pretty close to the digital drawing of the character in the movie. It was David White, the prosthetics makeup effects designer who had brought Eggers’ vision to life, and the actor shared that once all the pieces were in place and the team was able to finalize the coloring, it started coming together.
The actor also worked with an opera coach to lower his vocal register to reach the grave depths of Orlok’s voice. Eggers added that he was affected by how deep Skarsgård dove into the character, noting that when he snaps into the character, it’s heavy and everyone can feel it. The actor has been receiving appreciation for his work on the movie.
Nosferatu is playing in cinemas.
