The vampire inspiration for Nosferatu is older than you realize

Nosferatu Hit theaters on Christmas, and on The film’s box office revenueit seems that many horror fans were eagerly rushing to see the fearsome Count Orlok played by Bill Skarsgård – whose appearance was… A closely guarded secret Before release – on the big screen. Now, David White, the film’s prosthetic makeup designer (his other credits include Guardians of the Galaxy, Crow, Wondersand Northman), shared a surprising tidbit about the film’s stunning climax scene.

In case you haven’t sunk your fangs into Robert Eggers’ latest work yet…

At the end of the film, the vampire is destroyed by the only means possible: sunlight, while distracted by Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), who sacrifices herself by allowing Orlok to complete his dark passion in just one moment. The right moment before dawn. Her death is gruesome but still charming in a gothic way. His death is terrible and just. terrible. Given writer-director Eggers’ attention to detail, White’s explanation of how Orlok’s double-dead appearance was crafted isn’t exactly surprising, though it is appropriately gruesome.

“Robert wanted to be able to go from Orlock’s agonizing screams to the final shot of him lying dead on Ellen, when he’s nothing more than a husk,” Wyatt recalled in an interview with diverse. “I shared with Robert copies of bodies in various states of decay and withering. He really wanted to feel like Orlok had sucked all the life out of him, every last drop of blood. We took the final inspiration from a reference photo of the rediscovered body of a 5,300-year-old iceman that had been found On it in the Alps.

White explained that the end result is a combination of practicality and visual effects. “When I finished this, it was shot inside the scene and VFX, and then I scanned the body and also scanned Bill in this final look. The VFX then enhanced the traumatic moment between the two looks to complete the scene.

Making the dry “crust” seem even more dramatic is the fact that White’s other actions in the film had one goal in mind: “I was careful to keep his age ambiguous — ageless, so to speak,” he told Variety. “I did this by paying close attention to the amount of wrinkles and pronounced character lines, while keeping the appearance more sparse with no lids over his eyelids or eye bags. He also had to be attractive and attractive to Ellen and be able to hide his rot and filthy decadence by remaining in Shade as cover.

The sun is unforgiving no matter what you are, however especially If you are an old vampire. Nosferatu In theaters now.

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