Continuing our extensive Nosferatu coverage in the lead-up to the film’s New Year’s Day release here in Australia (you can read our review here), Peter Gray spoke to Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult about their roles in Robert Eggers’ gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Following on from both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin, Depp and Hoult took part in the global press junket, talking about the personal impact of their characters, Depp’s physical transformation, and what Hoult feels horror reveals about those that consume the genre.
I spoke to Aaron and Emma just before, and they were talking about how Robert gave you these packets to assist in the backgrounds of your characters. I was wondering with that, were there emotional undertones that you were able to tap into yourself, separate from what you read? And did they impact you personally in any way?
Lily-Rose Depp: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, that’s a very thoughtful question. I think that when your director has such a vision and such a clear, inspiring direction that he wants to go in, it’s tremendously helpful. I think there’s always going to be internal work to do on a character. There’s only so much that you can be given that acts like a helpful guide. At the end of the day, there’s always work that has to be done within yourself, and that’s very personal. I think that you’re set up with these amazing references and an idea of where you want to go, and it’s kind of up to you to take that and internalise it and make it your own, and go to a place within yourself where you can sum up those things. I feel like Rob gave us both such a clear idea of where he wanted to go with our characters and what kind of performances he was interested in. He had a great sense of the tone of the whole thing. I felt like we were able to both go and do that work quite thoroughly.
Nicholas Hoult: Once you’re focusing in on something, there’s always this element, for me, whereby you start with this wide cast net at the beginning of preparing to play a character, or enter a world, where you kind of grab onto everything you can. And as you get closer to beginning to shoot, you kind of focus in on something where they are open. How does that then get contained by the character in the scene, in this moment? You have to play the honesty of those moments, and perhaps through your research and preparation, there’s something that trickles through, maybe not even knowingly, but it infuses the scene with something, and then it kind of widens back out again as you’re shooting. That’s why I always feel when I get the energy back on the start of the day, I would really knock it out of the park, because I’ve got all this information. It’s fun like that.
Lily-Rose Depp: I like the way you put that, because it does feel that way. Like it feels, at the beginning, you’re just getting your bearings, and you haven’t gotten a sense, physically, of what it’s like to live in the character’s shows and act out the scenes day by day. So you cast the wide net of all these things you can pull from, and then day by day you hone in on the things that really matter. It then gets more and more petite, I guess, as you focus on one moment. Yeah, I like the way you put that.
Robert spoke of how your character, Lily-Rose, is a victim, not only of the vampire, but of the society at the time. Was that something you spoke of?
Lily-Rose Depp: I think that for Ellen, this is just as much about the battle within as it is the battle going on outside of her. I think it’s a lot about her coming to terms with the darkness within herself that she’s always had, and learning to accept that within herself amongst a world that doesn’t want to see that or have room for it. I think that’s a huge part of her journey, absolutely.
And you’re incredibly convincing as someone possessed!
Lily-Rose Depp: Thank you.
Is there a thought process from your day-to-day life where, in the back of your mind, you’re thinking “I might use this for the film I’m currently making,” or whichever current experience, good or bad, are you making deliberate choices that could help you reach a certain place or state?
Lily-Rose Depp: That’s a great question. Absolutely. I mean, I think as an actor it’s your job to convincingly represent life. The only thing that can nourish that is life (experience) and the things that you go through and the emotions that you traverse. So, for me, I can only act when drawing upon real emotion, and that’s the wonderful thing about being an actor. I can go to these incredibly personal places, and yet you get to hide behind all of these beautiful things and amazing characters and amazing worlds, while exploring emotions that are very personal to you. Your character might go through something that you think, “Wow, I’ve never gone through anything close to that. So how can I find a feeling within myself that is true and honest, and relate it to that?” That’s why I love doing this.
The film explores the nature of fear and humanity, did portraying those themes affect or alter your personal view of horror and what it can reveal about people?
Nicholas Hoult: Yeah, I think there’s something really interesting in terms of how people react in extreme scenarios. There’s something very telling about that, because all your ability to hide or control and rationalise anything that you’re putting out kind of gets swept away. That’s something interesting about trying to convey fear, in a way, because, obviously, I haven’t encountered a vampire, that I know of, but there’s something where it’s trying to place yourself in that and strip away any element you’re layering, which we as humans frequently do. You know, that facade or mask in life, that gets wiped away. What’s that movie? (Force Majeure)? Where there’s elements of how people react in extreme scenarios. It’s the most raw element, and you don’t know until you’re in those scenarios how you would react. And often, when you’re watching horror movies, there’s this element of you watch them and you’re, like, “Run! Why are you doing that?!”
Lily-Rose Depp: It’s interesting what comes out when you’re watching a movie.
Nicholas Hoult: And they’re sitting there, and when you’re within those scenes, there’s time where you think, “Oh, if I’m watching this, would I be telling myself to run?” But then you have that push-pull of, “What am I getting into?” And particularly for my character, at some points there’s this slight greed and going further than he should. But there’s also this kind of lack of awareness where you’re already in too deep at that moment and the train has left the station. I don’t know if I’ve fully answered the question, but it’s a good question.
Lily-Rose Depp: I think you did. It’s a great question. I think you totally hit the nail on the head. It reveals a rawness and a purity. You know what I mean? It does strip away any facade and really show you what you would do in that moment where you’re running for your life. Or you’re trying to save somebody’s life. All these moments and these characters help us explore these themes that are deeply moving.
Nosferatu is screening in Australian theatres from New Year’s Day, January 1st, 2025, following its release in the United States on Christmas Day, December 25th, 2024.
