In this new version, the heroine is played by Lily-Rose Depp, who was found in London at the end of November, alongside Emma Corrin. Discovery as Princess Diana in season 4 of The Crown (role which earned her a Golden Globe), seen recently in Deadpool&Wolverinethe young non-binary English actress – she asks that the pronoun “iel” be used in relation to her – plays Anna, a much more classic young woman, with whom Ellen finds refuge, while her fiancé Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) goes to Transylvania to count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård).
Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp, cinema sisters
Daughter of Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, fashion icon, Lily-Rose Depp is, at 25, a star. After an encouraging debut in French cinema – in 2016, we discovered her as Isadora Duncan in The Dancer by Stéphanie Di Giusto and alongside Natalie Portman in Planetarium by Rebecca Zlotowski – she moved to Hollywood thanks to The King by David Michôd, where she played alongside Timothée Chalamet. While, last year, she was at the center in the much-maligned series The Idolcreated for HBO by Barry Levinson and Canadian singer The Weeknd.
How did you discover the Nosferatu from Murnau?
L.-R.D. It was for this film. And I understood why it appealed so much to Rob (Robert Eggers, NdlR). It's amazing to think that this film was made over 100 years ago. I was really struck by the visual aspect – that's its main asset. But also how much this film was ahead of its time, particularly from a cinematographic point of view and its production mechanisms. Not to mention what a scary movie it is. I hope that people will also be very afraid of our Nosferatu…
We no longer believe in vampires, but they still fascinate us. For what ?
L.-R.D. There must be a reason so many vampire stories are still so relevant. It’s a theme we keep coming back to to tell certain stories. As human beings, we are fascinated by death because it is our inevitable end. This unites us all: we are all moving in the same direction. This is an experience we will all have. At the same time, this remains a big question mark. One way to explore this is to tell these colorful tales. And to feature these creatures who inhabit both worlds, who carry death within them, which they bring into the human kingdom. It's fascinating. Ultimately, it's a way to explore death…
Robert Eggers describes the relationship between Thomas, Ellen and Orlok as a love triangle. Ellen loves Thomas, but her relationship with Orlok is of the order of carnal passion. Is that how you approached your character?
L.-R.D. Absolutely. There is clearly a love triangle, and frankly not the most conventional one! Leaving aside the supernatural elements, this could be the story of a woman caught between what she knows she needs and what she really wants. There is a real desire on Ellen's part for Orlok. And it's reciprocal. She also really longs for that darkness within her. I think she likes Thomas. She clings to him to keep her feet on Earth. But when he leaves, he leaves her vulnerable to these dark forces. And she is truly experiencing an inner war, between good and evil, if you will. And she tries to reconcile with both…
Ellen and Anna, your two characters, are victims of Orlok's curse, but also of the patriarchal society of 19th century Germany. In this way, do you feel close to them?
E.C. Yes, in a sense. At the same time, being a woman at this time, in this society, is totally different in terms of social pressure, from what was expected of these women… In this regard, I think our characters represent two sides of the same coin. piece. Anna doesn't really have any experience outside of the path that has been laid out for her and the limitations that society imposes on her. She always followed the rules. And ultimately, she must face the fact that Ellen, who she thought had gone crazy, is actually right…And that leads to her downfall.
L.-R.D. I totally agree. Of course, life today is different. But I think there is still continuity. Today, we have more resources to talk about mental health and, in general, illness, medicine. Today, Ellen would have more resources to deal with what she is going through. But there is a form of continuity in the fact that we always see women as complicated beings, we refuse to believe them… The modern version of that, I suppose it is people who say: “Oh, this girl is completely crazy!” That's something we still feel today, this feeling of being too complicated, of having too many things to do, of having to simplify to be loved and accepted.
E.C. I found this scene that you have with Von Franz very moving. (the vampire hunter, played by Willem Dafoe, Editor’s note)where he is the first to believe you and you finally feel looked at. When you're going through something difficult, all you want is to be understood and to be seen…
L.-R.D. It’s touching indeed. Their relationship is special. He's the only one who really sees her, because he also has a connection to this world. Above all, it gives Ellen the opportunity to make something good out of her own darkness…
In this version of NosferatuEllen fights, is very active. She doesn't confine herself to the role of the damsel in distress. Did it matter to you to portray a strong woman?
L.-R.D. Yes. Before I was even in the picture, Rob had made a deliberate choice to tell the story from her point of view. To give a real voice to this female character, who has always been at the center of the story, but this time by allowing the audience to feel things through her. There is a real strength in her and at the same time a great loneliness. I think this strength perhaps comes from this isolation that she has felt all her life. The fact of feeling alone in this ordeal is its strength…
Murnau's “Nosferatu”, an unbeatable classic
With his NosferatuRobert Eggers pays homage to a film that has accompanied him since childhood, a film that he has seen more than a hundred times. A classic which, more than a century after its presentation on March 5, 1922 at the Zoo Palast in Berlin, continues to fascinate moviegoers around the world.
100 years ago, “Nosferatu” opened the ball for vampires in cinema and created a genre, the horror film
First adaptation of which we have kept track of Dracula by Bram Stoker – even if Murnau did not have the rights, which explains why Count Dracula became Count Orlok – this first great horror film of the 7th Art left its mark, particularly with its radical visual approach. Whether in the lighting and framing specific to German Expressionism, but also in the demonic aspect of the vampire, a veritable walking corpse. A visual approach to which Robert Eggers remains faithful in his Nosferatu.
If Bram Stoker's widow had obtained the destruction of the copies of Murnau's film, a few survived and allowed Murnau's classic, praised by the Surrealists at the end of the 1920s, to establish itself as one of the first cult films of the 7th Art. He will also strongly influence Tod Browning, in his own adaptation of Draculawith Bela Lugosi in 1931…
