Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, arriving in theaters tomorrow, is not what one would call a traditional Christmas release. Instead of featuring any holiday cheer or gift-giving, it’s more about instilling terror and monstrous murder. This contrast made for easy fodder in a recent Nicholas Hoult interview with talk show host Seth Meyers, who jokingly refers to the film as a “Christmas romp,” but the conversation took a hard turn toward the terrifying when the actor discussed an experience of real fear during the making of the new horror movie.
This past week, Nicholas Hoult was a guest on Late Night With Seth Meyers, and during a discussion about portraying terror in a performance, the Superman star revealed that one particular scene in the movie didn’t really require any “acting.” There is a scene in Nosferatu where his character, real estate agent Thomas Hutter, is being chased by wolves set loose by Bill Skarsgård’s Count Orlok, and there were real animals used on set. Said Hoult,
Robert Eggers, the director, is incredible, so I trusted him. There was one time where it was true fear, where we have these wolves in the movie. They were chasing me out of a window as I’m trying to escape Count Orlok’s castle. And I’m like running on the spot and getting hyped for the take, and they’re like being held back from me on leashes, barking, like with death in their eyes. They want to eat.
In the Nosferatu sequence, Thomas Hutter is chased through tight corridors and makes his way through a window, but there was one take where Nicholas Hoult got a bit tripped up. The production had to reset and reshoot because the actor made a silly face in the moment, but in watching playback, Hoult saw himself experiencing true fear because he realized that he didn’t know what would have happened if the wolves had actually caught him. He continued,
I was like, ‘Whew, ok, this is intense.’ And then there’s a time where I run and I slip, and I nearly don’t make it out the window as they’re chasing me, as they’re like let loose after me. And I got out, but then Rob was like, ‘Cut, cut, cut. No, you pulled a silly face. We can’t use that.’ He was like, ‘Come watch, look what your face did.’ And my face does go like, ‘Wheeew.’ I was like, ‘Yeah that’s not great, but so you know, that’s real fear.’ Because I realized I didn’t ask what would happen if the wolves got to me.
Nicholas Hoult further admits that he never actually got an answer to that particular, important question. That’s a bit freaky to think about – but it also means that he only had that one close call; the wolves never caught up to him.
Audiences everywhere will be able to experience this moment of extreme fear for themselves starting tomorrow, as Nosferatu will be playing in theaters everywhere on December 25. Also starring Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe, the film has gotten high marks from critics, and if you’re not quite sold on whether or not to see it, give my four-star CinemaBlend review of the dark vampire movie a read and see if it convinces you one way or the other.