Bill Skarsgård will soon scare movie-goers silly as he portrays the terrifying Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu. But this isn’t the first time the star has played a vampire…
Over 10 years ago, he played a bloodsucker in Netflix’s Hemlock Grove. Skarsgård says his experience playing Orlok is worlds away from his time on the show, but that the two projects do share some similarities nevertheless.
“Oh, I mean, it’s night and day,” the actor told GamesRadar+ at the UK premiere of Nosferatu, when we asked how the two roles compare. “But it’s funny that you would mention Hemlock Grove because Brian McGreevey, who wrote the novel and created that show, is very influenced by Transylvanian folklore.”
Hemlock Grove premiered in 2013, following the strange happenings in the fictional town of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania. The show is set around Skarsgård’s wealthy character Roman Godfrey, and his enemy turned best friend Peter Rumancek, who just so happens to be a werewolf. But, as the star points out, the show deals with Transylvanian mythology and gothic tropes, much like Dracula, such as Roman’s mother being an ageless vampire, and Romani traveller Peter, whose family dabble in moon magic and psychic readings.
In this regard, Hemlock Grove isn’t too different from Nosferatu, which is a remake of the 1922 movie of the same name. As that did, it ultimately adapts Bram Stoker’s 1879 novel Dracula, a tale that follows the exploits of a Transylvanian conquerer turned vampiric Count.
The show also sparked Skarsgård’s interest in ancient vampire lore, as the star explains, “That show opened the door for me to be interested in that world as well.” When asked what his favorite vampire movie is, he replied with one of the best vampire movies and Dracula adaptations: “[Francis Ford] Coppola’s Dracula is pretty dear to my heart.”
Also starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, and Lily-Rose Depp, Nosferatu follows the ancient Count Orlok’s obsessive and unnatural pursuit of Ellen Hutter in 19th-century Germany. Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, and Simon McBurney round out the supporting cast.
Nosferatu hits US theaters on December 25 and UK cinemas on January 1, 2025. Until then, read our spoiler-free Nosferatu review, or keep up with other upcoming horror movies.
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