Discover Extraordinary Measures Nosferatu’s Bill Skarsgård Took To Become Count Orlok

Bill Skarsgård declares that Nosferatu’s creepy Count Orlok is “the scariest performance” of his career, and that’s quite the statement considering the actor’s incomparable portrayal as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). The revelation is noteworthy all on its own, but it will surprise fans to also discover just how frightened Skarsgård was to pick up the mantle of the Dracula-inspired character, not to mention the extraordinary lengths he went to in bringing the plague-spreading monster to life. Skarsgård elaborated in a new behind-the-scenes video posted on social media by saying (per Nosferatu’s official X, formerly Twitter, account):

“I’ve never been more scared playing a character. I’ve done these sort of performances before, but none quite like this. I felt like I could become this vessel of evil playing Orlok — he is the pinnacle of horror characters. The voice was the biggest challenge because Robert [Eggers] really wanted the voice as deep as possible. So, I worked with an opera singer to get the vocals right. We worked with a movement coach to explore different ways we would move. There’s so much power in how deliberate his movements are.”

The BTS video provides some remarkable never-before-seen footage of Skarsgård on the set of Nosferatu in full makeup. Movie enthusiasts who haven’t seen the film yet, and have only watched the trailers, will witness a much better look at Count Orlok after he was completely shrouded in previous footage to further the mystery of the character.

The actor is utterly unrecognizable in the movie, and that is in part thanks to Skarsgård convincingly immersing himself into the role of Orlok on-screen: It’s an acting feat worthy of Oscar consideration. However, there’s a Nosferatu creative team that also rightly deserves credit, and its members have already received recognition for Skarsgård’s uncanny transformation.

Nosferatu’s Makeup Team Makes Oscars’ Short List

It Took Four Hours To Utterly Transform Skarsgård Into Orlok

In addition to Bill Skarsgård’s ability to completely reinvent himself for the role of Count Orlok, the Nosferatu star’s unrecognizable transformation also owes a debt of gratitude to the film’s hair and makeup team. In fact, their work was so extraordinary that Nosferatu made the shortlist (Best Makeup and Hairstyling) for the 97th Academy Awards.

Prosthetic makeup effects designer David White is one of those who helped turn the “charming” Mr. Skarsgård into the revolting Count Orlok, who poor Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) rightly dreads during the entirety of the movie. White said of helping turn Skarsgård into such a detestable villain in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

“Bill’s really tall, and he’s very slim and charming and a real kind of fun guy, and he’s got this lovely, warm personality. I remember during the first makeup session, as we’re putting this makeup on, this sweet, charming young guy began to disappear and somebody else was coming in. He transformed within the space of four hours into this very dark character.” 

Check out Bill Skarsgård’s must-see, yet unrecognizable, performance as Count Orlok in Nosferatu, which is now playing in theaters. Robert Eggers’ adaptation of the classic horror film continues to sink its fangs into the worldwide box office, and, at the time of this writing, the Lily-Rose Depp and Skarsgård-led flick has made $136.1 million globally.