Find out why Bill Skarsgård’s take on the vampire is likely to prove controversial

Nosferatu Director Robert Eggers has already made it clear that we won’t really see his new version of the titular vampire (Bill Skarsgård) until we see the horror remake, but many critics have now seen the film, and some of the reviews contain quite detailed descriptions of Count Orlok.

Max Schreck’s original vampire, introduced in FW Murnau’s 1922 classic, had a very distinctive appearance that will go down in history as one of the most iconic and influential monster designs of all time. Eggers’ version reportedly retains some elements of Schreck’s creepy face (see also Werner Herzog’s remake, Shadow of the Vampire, Salem’s Lot), but it sounds like there are some pretty big changes too.

If you’d rather know as little as possible about this new version of Count Orlok, spoiler consequences.

Several reviews reference the new Zombie Pirate creature design, but Variety’s is probably the most detailed.

“The villain in Eggers’ version bears little resemblance to Schreck’s prototypical spook – an odd way for this Nosferatu to stand out, as it presents a shaggier (and seemingly toothless) take on the character for a new generation.

The helmsman then buries his star under all sorts of zombie pirate prosthetics – mostly rotting skin and unkempt whiskers – until he ends up looking like a homeless Hell’s Angel.

Eggers revealed during an interview with deadline.

“What would a dead Transylvanian noble actually look like? That was basically my starting point and I still wanted to acknowledge Max Schreck’s makeup design.”

As for Skarsgård, he ended up getting used to the design, but was less than convinced when he first saw the prosthetic he had to wear.

“Bill sees the sculpture of the bust and freaks out and says, ‘That doesn’t look like me at all, that guy didn’t look like me when he was alive'” recalls Eggers. “‘What the fuck?’ He wasn’t being mean, but he was worried and I said, “Well, that’s the point, you’re totally turning into someone else.” And then he puts the makeup on and says, “Ugh, I look like that.” a leprechaun.” And then when they were doing the hair, even though the makeup wasn’t quite done yet, I saw the first moment where he said, “Okay, that’s cool.” I started looking at him in the mirror to see him fiddling around and trying to do something.

Audiences will be able to see this new version of the Count for themselves when Nosferatu hits theaters on Christmas Day.