Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and Willem Dafoe interview for Nosferatu

So much to talk about with this incredible movie. Lily, let's start at the beginning for you. I feel like when you get a Robert Eggers script, it's kind of an easy yes, but what about this role spoke to you? So much. I mean, like you said, getting a Robert Eggers script, I was, you know, I was definitely gonna, I was going to pursue it no matter kind of what it was because I've always wanted to work with Robin, you know, have of course such trust in his, in his work because it's, because it is what it is and, and he is who he is. But, but this one was so special from the get-go reading the script. I mean, there was so much there. I've always been a fan of this story. And, and then my role in particular was felt so special because for the first time it was really seen for her eyes and we got to, yeah, experience so much with her that, that I think you don't always get in the, in, in past kind of tellings of this, of this tale. And I was just fascinated by her as a character, by how much torment there is within her and, you know, externally as well. Just such a, such a beautifully complex, fascinating character. And I, I, I just loved the, the space that she took up in the story and, and how, how complicated it was, how it was so much more than just a young woman kind of haunted by this demonic force, but that there was, that there were so many more layers to it and that there was kind of a, a dark twisted yearning there as well. And I knew that there, you know, there, there, there could be no one better to tell this, this tale than Rob. So yeah, I was, I was really, really excited and honored to be a part of it. I think what about for you were the striking of the script? The script, well, I mean, the thing that was most striking about it, I think was with Rob, with everything, there's so much detail in it. The language he uses is so specific. The fact that he's refocusing the story on Alan, but then there's just, even on the page, it really felt like escaping into a different world. And that's what's so wonderful about his movies, how he builds tension and creates, you know, such real, you know, sometimes based on historical facts, worlds where you sit there and you feel completely transported. So there was something, even like his description of, of the, of the school, I think at one point he described it as like a cacophony that would bring Beethoven to his knees. Would you remember that? Right. Something like that. Right. And that's just off, like a first scene between you and Bill. And I was like, okay, this movie is exciting. And then, yeah, it was, yeah, a fascinating character, Thomas, because someone who, you know, is naive and misguided and, and is a deeply loving partner and companion, but it's just, cannot comprehend the evil in the world that Alan's battling, but also that's out there. And so it's, you know, that descent into, into hell in many ways and the regret and torment. So Willem, for you, there are many entry points into this character. You were in the film, Shadow Vampire, which is about the making of the original Nosferatu. You have worked with Robert Eggers many times before. So how did this come to you? And I imagine you had many ways of thinking about how you play this character. I'm always happy to work with Rob. I've worked with him two times before with great pleasure. And he's been talking about Nosferatu for a long time. He talks about seeing the original 1922 Murnau film when he was nine years old. He's a freak. He's fantastic. As Nick kind of said, you know, you enter his world and it's so detailed. Everything there's, there's nothing there that's, that is superficial. Everything has a purpose. It's not just about design. Everything's rooted. So when you enter the world, you know what has to be done. This role is an invented role, sort of. In some of the Dracula and Nosferatu lore, there are characters like this, probably the closest is the Ben Harrelson character in Dracula movies. But it's also invented. It's kind of an amalgam. And I always felt like this is the role Rob would play if he was going to, well, he was an actor, but this is his role. So I was happy to take his role because he had other things to do. But an interesting role. He gave me beautiful research to study things about the occult and to try to approximate what this guy may be studying and what he may be. So there were many pleasures and he's got a wonderful work ethic. His fingerprints are on everything. He has great collaborators. He's got a great cast. You know, I can only be very Pollyanna about it. Appropriately cast. This movie is so Pollyanna. You mentioned the design of his movies, which are always incredible. But in this one, it just feels like every frame, every corner of these sets is so detailed. I wonder what that does for you as actors, being able to step onto mostly sound stages, if I have that right, and you step onto them and it's just this whole world that he's created. So how did that help you immerse your character? I had never worked on any sets that came anything close to this, like we were talking about earlier. We shot the interiors a lot on sound stages, and then the exteriors were these incredible set builds where they built entire streets and towns that felt incredibly real. And I had never shot on anything like that before. So it was very cool for me. I was like, wow, this is so impressive. And I think it's endlessly inspiring and immersive. The amount of detail that goes into every corner of every set is astounding. And I think it just really, like Nick and Willem were saying, you really enter his world. You step onto set and you are, much like how it feels to watch one of Rob's movies, you're immediately transported into this other world. And that's very much what it felt like on set. And I think that can only nourish a performance to feel like you are completely where your feet are, if that makes sense. There's nothing that doesn't leave much to be imagined because you really feel like you're existing within this world. And I think that's something that's so cool about Rob is not only that he has so much respect for the detail, but he builds these teams that also have an incredible attention to detail themselves. And so it makes for such a rich and full world that is very palpable. All of those things, the atmosphere. Even I remember sometimes in the castle sets, they would go in and Jaron lights would be set so beautifully, but also from light sources that would exist were it not a film set. So at times they are quite dim or maybe a candle here, which helps add to the atmosphere and makes the film so beautiful visually. But then also I think there were a few days where Rob would play like kind of score over the top of that as well, which then kind of created this quite oppressive feeling going in there. Which was great. Yeah, on set. So that was obviously a brilliant thing feeling wise, a selfishly good performance. But then also it was something that was really cool that I'd never experienced before, just as like a film fan, was this thing whereby because Jaron and Rob had planned the shot so meticulously in terms of where the camera was going to travel, they would know when, if they started on a shot facing the wall here, but then they needed to dolly around to the other character, et cetera, they knew that that wall had to move. So they built all these like flyaway sets with like the cupboards or whatever, the tables would be attached to the wall and suddenly you'd see like off camera. But amazingly, like these shots get created in a way that like all these small parts and things and sets and everything working in unison with the dolly and the camera and everything. So that was exciting to see as well. So I was like, oh, just as a film fan, I was like, look how they've made. Did you prep any of these guys, Willem, for the methods, Robert Edwards? No. Listen, one thing off of what Nick was talking about, one thing that's very particular is, and this is, I don't know about the Norton so much because my wall is a small, but in The Lighthouse and certainly on this, you rehearse and the way you rehearse is he tells you what the shot is and then you fold yourself into it. I mean, it's very specific. These shots are really worked out and I think some actors find that oppressive and makes them uptight, but I like it because that becomes a structure and then you can really live within that. And it also is beautiful because you have to dance with the camera and dance with the other actors. And there are sequences where there can be like eight actors and it's a long, long sequence. The camera's moving. It's focusing on certain things. It's moving. The actors are moving. The dialogue is finding a rhythm. These are long sequences. So you really have to work together and it creates a kind of double focus. Not only are you doing the things that your character does, but you also have this technical awareness. And that, you'd think it would be a pain, but it in fact focuses you and also brings you together and creates a kind of tension and a kind of commitment that is really important. And that's special. I'm a theatre actor and you're kind of used to that sort of thing. The only difference is if there's any screw up at all, of course it's back to one. Because there's no conventional coverage. So it's got that beauty and the difficulty of flying without a net. But that's really, I think you feel it in the movie. The idea of course is with a long take, it's not just a pretension. I think people stay with it because the long shot has a life of its own. It's like, I think Walter Murch talked about, he cuts on people blinking. That's like the camera blank. Every time you cut away and you cut to a different angle or something. So when you have something that fluid, I think you can really hold the people in that world in a much stronger way. I think especially of the physical work you have to do in this movie, Lily, because it is so extreme and yet meticulous. So how did you prepare for it? And how did you find working within the method Willem's describing of falling into these shots with this really specific choreography? Yeah, it was very new to me, I have to say. And it was beautiful. I feel like Nick and I have talked about this a lot. I feel like I, in a way, graduated from the Robert Eggers School of Acting because I was learning to work in this very new way that I hadn't before. And I'm so grateful for it now because I feel like it helped me to grow so much and to, like Willem was saying, to dance within this structure. It's beautiful because not only are you being led by somebody who knows exactly what they want and who you can have full trust in, but also it does create this sense of unity of it's not about me or you or them or whatever. It's all of us in this moment together. And we're all going to do it as many times as it takes to get it right, which is amazing. It really creates this like team feeling. But yeah, in those moments in particular, I feel like I definitely felt the support of all those around me, not just my co-stars, but also, you know, it's really is a dance with everyone on the crew that's active in that moment. And I definitely felt like the support in those moments, because of course, you know, some of the scenes are it's quite physically demanding and emotionally demanding. And I definitely felt like togetherness. That was very, that was very helpful to me because because like we were talking about earlier, it's not just the ability to go there physically or emotionally. It's the ability also to sustain it and to keep doing it and to end up where you need to be and to, you know, dance with all of it. And so there needs to be like a sustainability to it. And so I had an amazing movement coach who helped me a ton to not only choreograph all of those movements, but also to find like an intention for all of them that it wasn't just kind of movement for the sake of moving, but that there was a storytelling aspect to every moment and that it was grounded in an emotion that the character is really going through. And Rob gave me, you know, as well as a ton of beautiful inspiration for all of that. And we really kind of crafted it together. Marie Gabrielle, our movement coach and Rob and Sharon and myself. And yeah, it was of course a huge part of the character. The physicality was always going to be a big part of it. But I think a lot of it really informed the emotional side as well, because the physical is also a manifestation of what she's going through emotionally. So I think it was important for me in a lot of different ways. Nick, you get an interesting challenge here in that for your character, there's an increasing difficulty in identifying what's real and what's not. I wonder how you went about playing that. You mean like within the costume? Yeah. Yeah, I think that was something that Rob really honed in on in terms of the Thomas character, like, you know, in like scary movies, when people go into the house, and everyone's saying, don't do that. There was something really interesting about this interpretation of the character, I think, where there's an eerie or suspenseful build in some manner to, you know, what's going on there, what's real, what's not. And I think the first moment that that really encroaches on the characters, obviously, in the woods, when there's the ritual in the woods, and all these things that kind of feel real, but he's waking up from nightmares, and maybe they're not. And then there's a moment that's a really great piece of design again, by then when the coach pulls up. And that shot was not, you kind of see Thomas getting on the coach from the back, then it goes to a front shot. And they devised this plan where rather than stepping on the carriage steps to get in, feeling like a real moment, in some ways, there was in that shot, I step onto a dolly, and then get kind of lifted up through that and float into the carriage, you know what I mean? I think that's one of the interesting things about Thomas going on this journey of this kind of the pull into that world, and what's real and what's not. And then that's kind of how the nightmare starts to unfold for him, because he's, he's unaware himself. I think that's the feeling that you get through those aspects of the movie. Can you each talk about facing Bill in this movie? What does that look like? What that felt like? Yeah. I mean, Nick and I have spoken about this a bit, but the first time that we that we heard Bill was a recording that Rob played us during rehearsal, that that he had on his phone of Bill, finding the voice and that that alone, the voice alone was, you know, as I'm sure you all, you all heard, you know, it's incredibly impressive and scary and transportative. And so that alone, you know, gave us both an idea of kind of where Bill was going with this. And, you know, we knew that it was going to be something incredible as, you know, Bill is known for that kind of a performance, and he does it incredibly well. And this is, and this is no exception. But then seeing him for the first time in the whole garb and everything was, was very impressive. Again, we were speaking about this earlier, but it was this feeling of like, both. Oh, my God, I'm so scared. And I this is, at the same time, exactly what it should be. And it feels so, so right. But at the same time, it's like bigger and better than I could have expected. And it was genuinely scary. I mean, he's, you know, like, well, I was saying earlier, like, Rob wants to do everything for real, you know, he wants everything to be exactly so the way that he looks in the movie is exactly how he looked, you know, standing right in front of us. You know, the work that went into creating that character physically was tremendous. And so to just even look at him was, was, was very scary. It removes a lot of the work that you have to do. I mean, you summed up most of it with that. I think, yeah, it's that element that, I mean, Bill's such an incredible actor. And then it's that ability for this whole world to feel completely authentic. He's not creating a monster, which is for the sake of it. It feels real, feels like a Hungarian nobleman who's been dead for two years, two hundred years, two years. That's what makes it even scarier to be around. And Bill's then so imposing as the character and, and, and has such great ideas that he brings in terms of physicality and all those, all those elements. But that's for me, the whole movie, your character's exploration of the occult, it all feels like the moments where I look at the sigils, the robber designer stuff, and I'm like, is this stuff we should be tampering with? You once played a version of that part. Well, you once played a version of that part. I did, but a very different version. And a comic one. But, you know, but in preparing, he's referring to a movie called Shadow of the Vampire Destructor, which I think was like around 2000. And I studied, you know, the way I approached the character was basically copy the original. I just watched that and do what he did. Or, you know, there really is no such thing as copying. You can start there. But then after a while, something else, you know, gets a hold. But that's a good, that was a good place to start. So I'm going around now. It was nice having to work on that. It's fun for me to be in the same kind of story in a very different context. But I knew that original very, very well, thanks to Shadow of the Vampire Destructor. Can you talk about working with Lily a little bit? Your character has a really interesting chemistry with Ellen and how he sees her in a way that others don't. I love my scenes with Lily because I like the writing because I'm the only guy that sees her. You know, no one else quite gets her. And I'm an outsider, so we have a kind of complicity. And there's something beautiful about him saying and recognizing her in this kind of weird triangle. You've got the loving husband, who's great, but you don't quite get her. You get the guy that totally gets her. Let's say it's a little toxic. And then you have me. And I come in and say, baby, I know what you want. So I'm like her, you know, what is it, BFF? No, BFF, B-Best Occultist Friend. No, seriously, I like those scenes and I like when he, you know, has respect for her and honors her position in this. But it's also complicated because he's working two sides against the middle kind of because he's setting her up to, you know, basically catch Orlock. This is his solution. So that character is nice for that. He's got all this interest in the occult and these things of that time, but he's also a man of science and he's kind of practical. And he's coming to the situation to solve a problem and he's going to solve it. But he's kind of working them against her and her against them. So it's an interesting character for that. Lily, what's it like to be seen by Willem? It's very cool, very special. No, I totally echo what Willem's saying. I think that their relationship is a really special one because, yeah, he is kind of the only person who understands that aspect of her. I think something that's really interesting about Ellen is that she is wonderfully complicated in a way that women had no space to be at the time and in a way that even today we struggle with still. There's always too much, I think, going on for the world to accept and certainly in this time period. And I think that Ellen is really plagued with this feeling that she is bringing horror and destruction everywhere that she goes and that she has brought this darkness upon everyone that she loves. And I think she deals with a lot of shame about all of this darkness. And then in that scene between Willem and I, Von Frans gives her the opportunity to do something good and to do a good deed and tells her, you know, you would have been a great priestess of Isis, that in another time, in another world, that she could have actually been a good person when I think that she struggles with feeling like maybe she's not. And so I think, you know, it's of course a bittersweet end, but I think it's beautiful because he gives her the opportunity to do something good with something that I think she's felt a lot of shame about. They both recognize that there's, you know, the darkness and the other people don't quite see it. And I think there's kind of, I only noticed that after watching the film, you weren't thinking of it when they were making the film, but there's kind of a social commentary, particularly with the Hardings, for example, they are in denial of the darkness and they suffer from not acknowledging it. Nick, was there anything in the research of this time period, this sort of legacy of filmmaking that was amazing conversation that you were really excited to dig into? I mean, in the original movie, the Gothic era in general, we shot in Prague, which was beautiful to be entrenched in it with all the architecture there. Rob gave us all long lists of, not long lists, but lists of movies to research in terms of performances that he liked to equate, I suppose, into the style of this movie. So that was exciting to dig through that. And that's always the fun thing about any film, I suppose, it's like this element of you're always standing on the shoulders of people who come before you in Brunswick and come before you. So it's always interesting, even if you're not directly, like you said, copying or stealing or taking from, there's like this osmosis kind of effect of watching and being entrenched in that that makes you feel like, okay, I get a sense of the world we're going into. So it's all of that. And I look back and read the book as well, you know, it's a lot of this letter form, which is interesting. I mean, it's very different, obviously, to this, but it's interesting just to feel like you're sitting in the mindset of a character. And it's not always something that you can directly say like, oh, that's this that's helpful. And it's just something that makes you feel like you're casting a wide net around stuff that way you go, all right, hopefully something in here makes me feel more real. It's a credit to the production too, I would imagine such a richness and everything gets playing and see and go back to. Rob is also so well researched. I mean, he loves this stuff. He loves the story. He's a freak for research, and he gives you great, great stuff to look at. And he's knowledgeable. He's a cinephile. He has many interests. It was interesting that he could tell you what were kind of tropes created by cinema about this, some of the folklore that we lean into, and the basic Dracula and Nosferatu story, what was created from cinema, and what was, you know, tropes created in different versions, and what had some sort of historical base. And the historical base is also really interesting, because once you learn it, then you feel connected to it. And it helps with the pretending, because you feel the beginning of something. It roots the authority to pretend, in a way, when you have more knowledge about something. That was particularly true for my character, because I had some stuff that I didn't even know what it was. Sullivanari. What the hell is Sullivanari? Get me on this, Rob. I mean, there was a lot of research. But he's fantastic about that, because he doesn't want anything to be signed or pointed to. He wants it invested. And that, of course, we're actors here, right? So we know that that's about, it helps having a source. Well, as these folks have seen the film, Lily, I thought to close, you could maybe talk about filming that climactic freakout. I think we can safely call it that. What that was like, and what it felt like when you finished it? It was nice. I have to say, that was when I was happy to check off my shot list myself. Yeah, I feel like, you know, I'm sure you guys agree. I feel like when you start something, oftentimes there's like a scene or two where you think, oh, I'm nervous for that one or something. And that was one for me. Just because it's important. It's a big scene for the movie. It's a big scene for my character. And so I wanted to do it right and everything. And that was like my second or third day shooting was when we started shooting that scene. So I was, yeah, I was really nervous. I jumped in. Yeah. But I think in a way, it's even better because, you know, you just jump right into the deep end and then you're there. But, you know, much like all of the other scenes in the movie, it was incredibly technical and very much a dance with the camera and the set and, you know, and of course, Nick and myself. And yeah, it's a very important scene. So I know we all really cared about getting it right and, you know, shaping what that kind of what that, like you said, freak out moment really looked like, because it is very climactic. It's kind of the crescendo of all of this that's been building. And it's the moment she finally, you know, it's it also, I think, is a moment that's important in our relationship in the movie, you know, that he finally is forced to come to terms with all of this darkness that's within her. And she finally releases all of this onto her husband that I think has been anchoring her to the to the earthly realm. And then all of a sudden it's, you know, nothing can be the same anymore. And it has to be this really full embodiment of all of this horror. And so and so, yeah, we really worked on shaping that, Rob and Marie Gabrielle and I. And yeah, I remember that that moment when I was I was doing that really scary face and Rob was like behind the camera. I felt like I was giving birth. But it was it was it was beautiful. I felt very immersed in the world. And and yeah, it was it was it was an experience unlike unlike any other. I'm very grateful for Nick in those moments. We we yeah, we had a couple of days on that one. It was honestly one of the most astounding pieces of acting I've ever seen. We were saying earlier about the fact that there's not there's not cut ways. It's not like this is going to be like he does this one thing one time and then he goes, oh, that was great. We'll cut back to that and then we'll do this. It was like all in camera, all happening. And to stay emotionally connected and present through all of that, physically to deliver that performance. But then also I could see and hear all the technical notes and things and stuff coming in and you to keep that performance at that level with all of the technical sides of everything that was going on there. It was incredibly great. Thank you, Nick. Thank you all so much for coming out. Thank you all so much.