"Utterly creepy. Perfect!" Fans react as Robert Eggers reveals casting Bill Skarsgård in Nosferatu after his chilling IT: Chapter 2 performance.

Robert Eggers has done it again. The dude who made The Witch (the movie that had us side-eyeing goats) is back, and this time, he’s diving headfirst into the vampire universe. Nosferatu— that ancient creepy vampire story your goth friend probably won’t shut up about—dropped on Christmas Day 2024.

A key highlight of this revamped vampire drama is the casting of Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok. Robert Eggers apparently made this decision after watching Skarsgård crush it as Pennywise in It: Chapter Two. Eggers saw that creepy clown morph into a middle-aged dude and thought that this guy screams undead sorcerer.

Naturally, when the internet caught wind of this, it responded with its signature chaos. An X (formerly Twitter) user wrote that this is "Utterly creepy. Perfect!"

A user humorously stated: "Well, at least we got something good out of It Chapter 2."

Another user added: "He also knew this guy would hang dong."

A user humorously noted: "He's lying, bro just wants to complete his Skarsgard casting collection."

A comment read: "IT CHAPTER TWO DEFENDERS RISE UP!"

Another comment read: "Did he explain why the mustache?"

Robert Eggers about casting Bill Skarsgård

In 2020, somewhere in the middle of quarantine, Robert Eggers catched up on It: Chapter Two. Skarsgård’s Pennywise did his usual terrifying clown thing, but then comes this scene where Pennywise shapeshifts into a middle-aged dude.

He told Rolling Stone:

“...and it had just a lot of depth and heft and darkness and believability to it. I emailed him or texted him — I don’t remember which — and said, ‘Do you want to talk about playing Orlock?'”

And the rest is history.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Robert Eggers dropped some fascinating deets about his vision for Count Orlok. He wasn’t looking for a vampire who spends eternity moping in a cape. Eggers wanted Orlok to exude “undead sorcerer” energy.

Naturally, finding an actor who could pull off both fearsome ancient predator and vulnerable spooky boi was no small task.

Interestingly, Bill Skarsgård didn’t originally aim for the top spot. He had auditioned for the role of Thomas Hutter, the hapless real estate guy. But after watching Skarsgård’s tape, Eggers must’ve had one of those lightbulb-over-the-head moments.

That epiphany bumped Bill to lead, leaving other heavyweights like Willem Dafoe and Daniel Day-Lewis on the bench.

The Orlok makeover

Becoming Count Orlok wasn’t just a vibe switch for Skarsgård. David White, prosthetic mastermind, was sculpting Orlok into something equal parts skeletal, decayed, and terrifyingly mesmerizing.

Speaking with EW, the director said:

“I knew what I wanted Orlok to look like. It happened to be that Bill doesn't really look like that. When David did the sculpt, he put in a lot of care to not overly bulk up Bill's face but still give it the look that I wanted. Bill was like, 'Man, I didn't look like this guy when he was alive,' which was sort of my intention.”

David White worked his magic, carefully sculpting prosthetics that transformed Skarsgård into the nightmare Eggers envisioned, all while maintaining the actor’s ability to deliver a nuanced performance.

The actor noted that Eggers shared a digital drawing of Orlok with him during the screen tests, which closely resembled what he would eventually look like in the film. This early visualization helped Skarsgård prepare for the role over the two years leading up to production.

The obsession behind the madness

Eggers’ fascination with Nosferatu didn’t spring up overnight. This has been a passion project brewing since he was a kid, flipping through eerie stills from F.W. Murnau’s original 1922 silent masterpiece.

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Backing Skarsgård’s terrifying Orlok is an A+ ensemble: Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter (The guy who’s just trying to sell a house but ends up on Vampire Zillow) and Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter (The gothic damsel who becomes the object of Orlok’s undead obsession).

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