In “Nosferatu”, in theaters December 25, 2024, Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays a perfect family man who welcomes into his home a young woman possessed by the spirit of the fearsome Transylvanian vampire and ends up sinking into madness. An unusual shoot which marked the 34-year-old English actor.
How did you react to Lily-Rose Depp's possession scenes on set?
She tried so hard it was disturbing. I looked so shocked for real that the director told me to keep acting like that! I also wondered if access to the set was limited during these scenes. I felt like I was witnessing something I shouldn't be watching. I wanted to protect Lily-Rose.
Vampires in cinema are often sexy, but this film is more reminiscent of “Beauty and the Beast”.
Obviously, Lily-Rose is very beautiful, but the film is more in a gothic romantic vein. At first glance, it’s “Beauty and the Beast,” but beneath the veneer there is a lot of darkness and fragility. All of this is perverse, erotic and disturbing.
Did you learn anything from this role?
Robert Eggers demanded that I recite my dialogues in a very particular way. There was no room for improvisation. Usually, we are encouraged not to perform exactly the same way in each take so that the director can choose the best scenes during editing, but with him, we followed identical takes. I felt like a puppet.
There is talk of the occult in this story. Does the subject interest you personally and have you discussed it with the director?
I'm less interested in the occult than in spirituality. We didn't talk about it with him. On the other hand, he gave us homework. We had to read files full of details about our characters. Robert is a true encyclopedia on the horror genre.
