With Nosferatu and Pennywise, Bill Skarsgård has performed the same horror miracle twice

With arrival “Nosferatu” by Robert Eggers We can say one thing for sure: Bill Skarsgård is very good at stepping into the roles of famous horror movie monsters. Skarsgård seems to have pulled off this minor miracle twice, and the results were stunning both times. In the 2017 film “It,” Skarsgård slathered on some greasy paint to play Pennywise the Dancing Clown (This is the role that he will reprise in Max’s upcoming series, “Welcome to Derry.”), a malicious mutant who tends to hang out in sewers and chew up children. This was no easy matter. While 2017’s “It” was the first film adaptation of the Stephen King horror film, it wasn’t the first time the material had reached the screen. In 1990, “It” was made into a television miniseries, featuring the legendary Tim Curry as Pennywise. When news broke that “It” was being adapted again, all fans of the miniseries seemed to share the opinion: It would be nearly impossible for anyone to step into Carrie’s clown shoes. Carrey’s attitude toward Pennywise became so legendary, so ingrained in popular culture, that it was seen as a fool’s errand to even attempt to replace him.

However, Skarsgård pulled it off. I’m not going to sit here and argue which show is the “best”, simply because they are both unique and distinct from each other. Curry’s Pennywise looks like a carnival showman. A big, loud hustler who seems to really enjoy his work. In sharp contrast, Skarsgård’s position is even more bizarre. He raises his voice, makes a mark over one eye (something an actor can do for real, without the aid of makeup or CGI), and drools a lot. Skarsgård’s Pennywise is almost childlike in some ways; It seems immature, even though it has been around for centuries. In the end, Skarsgård succeeded in achieving this. It may just be a case of recency bias, but these days, if you ask someone to portray Pennywise, they’ll almost certainly think of Skarsgård’s version first. It’s proof that the doubters were wrong, and that Skarsgård really had what it took to make a horror icon his own.

Now, with “Nosferatu,” he’s done it again. You could say that in taking on the role of Count Orlok, Skarsgård faced a greater challenge than playing Pennywise. With Pennywise, the actor only had to contend with the memorable performance of one person, Tim Curry. With Orlok, Skarsgård has to deal with several actors who have already played the role. In 1922, Max Schreck, who looked like a rodent-like vampire, created the character in F.W. Murnau’s silent classic. Then, in 1979, legendary actor and troublemaker Klaus Kinski played the vampire in Werner Herzog’s remake of “Nosferatu the Vampyre” (note: Kinski’s character was named Count Dracula in Herzog’s film, since “Nosferatu” was (Officially an adaptation of “Dracula”, but Kinski is clearly playing the same character as Orlok, with similar makeup). And to complicate matters even more, it’s a great horror movie “Vampire Shadow” He has Willem Dafoe slip into the famous Orlok makeup to play a (fictionalized) version of Max Schreck (interestingly, Dafoe appears in the new “Nosferatu” movie as well, playing a vampire hunter). This is a lineup of heavy hitters. However, despite the odds, Skarsgård makes Count Orlock his own, just as he did with Pennywise.