Bill Skarsgård never set out to become a go-to “monster” actor, but he has frequently found himself playing some dark roles, including his upcoming turn as the vampire Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu this December. Having played some deeply unsettling roles in movies such as It and The Crow, the actor addressed his affiliation with these characters in an interview with Vanity Fair, noting that it is not something that was always his intention.
“It was never my particular goal to be the “creature actor,” if you will. There are so many [actors] I draw inspiration from. A lot of other actors that are not known for their intense transformations are some of my favorites as well. I haven’t really studied the greats of prosthetics or creature performances in that way. I’ve watched a lot of it, but I don’t watch performances for inspiration per se, because there’s always this thing of emulation that I don’t want to go down. For Orlok, predatory animals felt like a cleaner source of inspiration.”
While his version of Count Orlok is being kept under wraps ahead of the release of Nosferatu on Christmas Day, his transformation has already been teased as one of the most “intense” of his career. Following in the wake of characters like It’s evil Pennywise, this has cranked up the hype surrounding the upcoming horror movie to a whole new level.
Bill Skarsgård is Not Worried About Being Typecast
There are usually two routes that actors go down when it comes to the roles they choose to accept. Some will embrace a certain niche and make their entire career revolve around it, but at the same time, others will actively look to avoid taking on a certain type of role more than once for fear of only being offered similar roles in the future. For Skarsgård, he feels that being typecast is not a problem, as all he wants to do is “transform” in his roles. He said:
“I definitely don’t want to exclusively play those kind of roles, but I’ve never seen the appeal of the classic star, a movie star. The difference between a movie star and an actor is that a movie star plays himself in every part, in a way. Whereas as an actor transforms. There are people that play themselves, and they’re brilliant every single time, but it’s the same thing and they have that shtick. For me, I just don’t think that I’m that charismatic or interesting, so I can’t just lean on that. I need to transform as far away from me as possible.”
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Despite coming from an affluential family of actors, Bill Skarsgård has managed to carve out a name for himself and continues to thrive and surprise.
Whatever the future holds for Skarsgård, he has already secured himself a place among some of the great horror actors of the past. His ability to embody dark and eerie characters could sustain him for the rest of his career. Even if he does continue to diversify the roles he takes on, it seems that there will always be something lurking in the dark, waiting for his return to the fold.
Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name from director F. W. Murnau. Robert Eggers is crafting his own version of the story for the reboot as writer and director, with Bill Skarsgård stepping into the shoes of Count Orlok. Nosferatu tells the tale of a young woman who falls victim to a vampire utterly infatuated with her.
- Release Date
- December 25, 2024
- Runtime
- 132 Minutes
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Studio(s)
- Regency Enterprises , 1492 Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Focus Features , Universal Pictures