Bill Skarsgård says he hopes Nosferatu viewers will be “disgusted by their attraction” to his “gross” titular vampire

With his long, pale-skinned fingers, sharp teeth, and hunched silhouette, Nosferatu’s Count Orlok is one of the most striking horror figures of all time. In Robert Eggers’ take on the character, though, which is set to release in December, actor Bill Skarsgård hopes to turn him into a bit of… a pin-up?

While promoting his upcoming action-fantasy The Crow, the actor teased his version’s look in a new interview with Esquire, explaining that while his bloodsucker is undeniably “gross”, he’s “very sexualized”, too. “I do not think people are gonna recognize me in it. It’s playing with a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and what that appeal has to you,” Skarsgård continued. “Hopefully you’ll get a little bit attracted by it and disgusted by your attraction at the same time.”

Often described as an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1987 novel Dracula, the story of Nosferatu, which was first seen on screen in F. W. Murnau's silent feature back in 1922, sees ancient, Transylvanian bloodsucker Count Orlok set his sights on the wife of his estate agent – and bring terror to their small German town.

Lily-Rose Depp will bring his object of "affection" to life, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, and Willem Dafoe – who previously appeared as Max Shreck, the actor who played Count Orlok in Murnau’s adaptation in the meta movie Shadow of the Vampire way back in 2000 – round out the supporting cast.

Dafoe, who’s portraying Van Helsing-type Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz in the flick and has worked with Eggers on both The Lighthouse and The Northman before, previously told Indiewire: “[Eggers] gets better and better and better, gets more articulate, more on top of it. He's so clear when he works. I saw some footage when we were shooting, and I can honestly say, visually, it was like unlike anything I have seen. … The look of it and how it was shot was extraordinary."

Nosferatu is set to descend upon US cinemas on December 25, before releasing in the UK on January 3, 2025. For more, check out our list of the best horror movies of all time or our guide to the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.