Robert Eggers on Nosferatu’s Most Startling Personal Style Choice

One of the most secret ingredients about Robert Eggers‘ Nosferatu—a reimagining of a silent film that famously lifted its plot dracula— what Orlok calculation Apparently before the movie hit theaters, marketing materials only featured Bill Skarsgård’s vampire in silhouette or shadow. This discussion was couched How strangely terrifying The character will appear on screen, but now that the movie is over, viewers are also taking note of a surprising grooming choice.

Obviously… it’s that mustache!

In a spoiler-y interview with diversityEggers was asked why Count Orlok had such distinctive facial hair. As is often the case with this writer-director, it started when he was doing extensive research before production.

“To try to create a more terrifying vampire than we’ve had in a while, I went back to folklore,” he told the trade. “It’s something I like anyway, but early folk vampires were written by people who believed that vampires existed. There would be some good stuff, and the vampire in folklore is a putrid, walking corpse.”

As a result, he explained, “What does a dead Transylvanian nobleman look like?”

From there, Eggers said, he realized “this complicated Hungarian costume with very long sleeves, weird high-heeled shoes and a furry hat. It also means a mustache. Anyway, this guy couldn’t have a mustache. Such a Transylvanian person. Try to find someone who’s old enough to grow a mustache. It’s part of the culture. If you don’t want to bother googling, then Vlad the Impaler Come to think of it, even Bram Stoker had the sense to give Dracula a mustache in the book.

So there you have it: it’s a culturally appropriate choice—as you can see, other characters in the film, including Willem Dafoe’s Professor von Franz, also have the rock ‘stache—and one Stoker himself considered while working on the 1897 novel. That started it all.

Nosferatu Now in theaters.

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