Robert Eggers wanted Bill Skarsgård’s Count Orlok to look like a dead person, not a supernatural creature. Practical prosthetic makeup, shaped by vampire folklore and refined through camera tests, helped turn that idea into the corpse-like figure in Nosferatu (2024).
Eggers designed Orlok as an undead corpse
“I wanted him to be a dead person, not a creature,” Eggers told AnOther Magazine. The familiar description that Orlok looks like a “real corpse” captures that intention, but it is a paraphrase—not Eggers’ exact quote.
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Eggers linked the design to older vampire folklore. In the stories told by people who believed vampires were real, he said, a vampire was “a putrid corpse.” That idea led away from a sleek, fantastical monster and toward the appearance of a dead body returned to life, as he explained to SYFY WIRE.
How the practical makeup created the look
Prosthetics shaped the face
Eggers said Skarsgård’s makeup was done practically: “All of Bill’s makeup is done practically,” he told Moviefone. Eggers had a particular face and skull shape in mind, and prosthetics designer David White refined the design. Eggers also credited White with finding a way to acknowledge the shape of Max Schreck’s ears, a visual reference to the actor who played Orlok in the 1922 Nosferatu.
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#1 Best Overall
- Genre: Horror
- Number of Discs: 1
- Number of Tracks: 0
- Rating: R
- Director: Robert Eggers
Skarsgård described a face cast and prosthetic pieces assembled onto his face. The first makeup test did not immediately work for him: he said the pieces initially made him look “like a goblin.” Adjustments to the skin tone and the blending changed the effect. As he told AnOther, “Not only is he a dead corpse, he also never looked anything like me when he was alive.”
Camera tests helped the design read on screen
Skarsgård’s account makes clear that the result depended on more than adding prosthetics: color and blending had to make the altered face feel convincing while leaving room for his eyes and facial movement to register. Eggers recalled that Skarsgård disappeared into Orlok during a full-makeup-and-wardrobe camera test. The outlets describe the test count differently: SYFY WIRE reports Eggers called it the third camera test, while AnOther recounts his memory of the second on-camera test in full costume. Those are separate outlet-specific recollections, not a single settled count.
Rank #2
- Genre: Horror; Thriller
- Number of Discs: 2
- Number of Tracks: 0
- Rating: R
- Number of Albums: No
Practical makeup does not mean the film used no visual effects. Eggers’s statement concerns Skarsgård’s makeup; he also acknowledged that the film used visual effects.
Costume and historical references completed Orlok
The corpse-like face was part of a wider character design. Costume designer Linda Muir told Vogue that Eggers envisioned Orlok as a Transylvanian count from around 1590. She worked with White on the prosthetics and body makeup, as well as on the clothing that completed the silhouette.
Rank #3
- Remastered in HD from the archival 35mm restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
- Featuring Hans Erdmann's original 1922 score in 5.1 Surround or 2.0 stereo
- Includes The Language of Shadows, a 52-minute documentary on F.W. Murnau
- Starring Max Schreck as Nosferatu, based loosely on Bram Stoker's Dracula
- From the Kino Classics label
That design reference is distinct from the film’s story setting: Nosferatu takes place in 1830s Germany, according to Den of Geek. Eggers described his guiding question to that outlet as: “What would a dead Transylvanian nobleman look like?”
Den of Geek reported that Skarsgård spent six hours in the makeup chair for full-body prosthetics. The outlet also described the Transylvanian scenes as shot by candlelight and reported that the actor was hot and sweaty under the prosthetics and a large fur coat. Those are reported production details, not rules for how prosthetic makeup is made generally.
Rank #4
- Factory sealed DVD
Where to watch the film at home
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment lists Nosferatu (2024) in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD editions, including an extended-cut 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital edition. The company’s release announcement gave February 18, 2025, as the physical-media street date. Current stock and prices may vary by retailer.
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