Кадр з фільму «Носферату» / Focus Features
“Nosferatu,” a Gothic horror film by Robert Eggers, which is currently being shown in theaters, could have had a completely different cast.
Bill Skarsgård, who played Count Orlok in the horror movie, in the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Games Radar) revealed that his role was initially meant to be taken by Mads Mikkelsen, while he was instead offered to portray Thomas Hutter (a role that eventually went to Nicholas Hoult).
“I met Robert Eggers in New York almost 10 years ago when he was planning ‘Nosferatu’. The script was wonderful, I read Friedrich Harding’s lines, but eventually, he thought I would be suitable for the role of Thomas Hutter,” Skarsgård recounts.
Eventually, Eggers postponed the film, taking on work on “The Lighthouse” and “The Northman”. Moreover, in the latter, Skarsgård could have gotten a role, but production delays interfered.
When the “Nosferatu” script appeared again in Eggers’ hands, the roles of Friedrich and Thomas were already taken, and the director offered the main role to Bill.
“Suddenly, he reached out and said, ‘I think you can play Orlok,'” the actor recalls.
“Nosferatu” is being screened in theaters worldwide from December 25 (in Ukraine from January 2) and by this time has crossed the $100 million box office mark. The film has received quite high ratings from viewers, and critics predicted it would earn the title of “best of 2024”.
Besides Holt and Skarsgård, the main roles in “Nosferatu” were played by Lily-Rose Depp, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe — the actor, before getting the role of Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz, along with Mikkelsen was considered for the role of Count Orlok and, by the way, had already played him (as well as actor Max Schreck) in the 2000 movie “Shadow of the Vampire.”