A vampire role in an underrated Netflix drama from 10 years ago has an unlikely connection to Nosferatu star Bill Skarsgård's Count Orlok
Dec. 6, 2024Exclusive: Bill Skarsgård says his vampire roles in Nosferatu and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove do share a connection
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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 sharesomesimilarities 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.”
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 thebest vampire moviesand 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.
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