One of the secretive components about Robert Eggers‘ Nosferatu—a reimagining of a silent movie that famously lifted its plot from Dracula—is what Count Orlok would appear like. Earlier than the movie hit theaters, advertising and marketing materials confirmed the vampire performed by Invoice Skarsgård solely in silhouette or shadow. This was couched in dialogue of how freakishly terrifying the character would seem on-screen, however now that the film’s out, audiences are additionally paying attention to a shocking grooming selection.
Clearly… it’s that mustache!
In a spoiler-y interview with Variety, Eggers was requested why Depend Orlok has such distinctive facial hair. As is usually the case with this writer-director, it began whereas he was doing in depth analysis forward of manufacturing.
“To attempt to make a extra scary vampire than we’ve had in fairly a while, I went again to the folklore,” he advised the commerce. “It’s one thing that I like anyway, however the early folks vampire was written about by individuals who believed that vampires existed. There was going to be some good things there, and the vampire of folklore is a putrid, strolling undead corpse.”
That led to, he defined, questioning “What does a lifeless Transylvanian nobleman appear like?”
From there, Eggers stated, he figured that meant “this complicated Hungarian costume with very lengthy sleeves, unusual high-heeled sneakers and a furry hat. It additionally means a mustache. It doesn’t matter what, there’s no approach this man can’t have a mustache. Attempt to discover a Transylvanian one that’s of age who can develop a mustache that doesn’t have a mustache. It’s a part of the tradition. For those who don’t need to hassle Googling, consider Vlad the Impaler. Even Bram Stoker had the sense to provide Dracula a mustache within the e-book.”
So there you have got it: it’s a culturally acceptable selection—as you possibly can see, different characters within the movie, together with Willem Dafoe’s Prof. Von Franz, additionally rock ‘staches—and it’s one Stoker himself took into consideration whereas engaged on the 1897 novel that began all of it.
Nosferatu is in theaters now.
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