Illuminating Character with Costuming in Nosferatu

In Nosferatu, filmmaker Robert Eggers brings to life the legendary tale of Nosferatu, a terrifying story of obsession between a haunted young woman (Lily-Rose Depp) and the hideous vampire (Bill Skarsgård) infatuated with her. When her husband (Nicholas Hoult) travels to Romania to assist the ancient Count Orlok, he unwittingly unleashes a wave of terror that affects everyone around him. With a cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe, Nosferatu unfurls an epic tale with visual beauty and visceral horror.

Costume designer Linda Muir—who has worked on all of Egger’s feature films—explored the details of life in Germany in 1838 to recreate the story’s historical reality. From 19th-century household manuals to 16th-century portrait painting, Muir used her extensive research to bring a new look to a classic horror tale.

We spoke with Muir about using costumes to reveal a character’s backstory, finding fabrics to work in nighttime shots, and the value of historical research.

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When did you start working on Nosferatu?

As a team, we've had three different starts over the years. We started thinking about it right after The Witch, and then after The Lighthouse. After The Northman, we had to postpone production for about a year before we finally got started. With those various starts and stops, I gained a certain familiarity with the story—reading books, researching material, and watching the very long list of films that Robert provided as inspiration. It wasn’t until before we started production that I started sketching and doing fabric research. Each time that you start something and it doesn't come to fruition, you store away all of your ideas to be reawakened when you need them again.

Did you pull anything from Murnau’s 1922 version of Nosferatu?

There is very little costuming in the film that is based on the Murnau film, other than the feeling of Max Schreck, who played Count Orlok. Although they had almost no budget, there was a certain accuracy in the film. But then about 2/3 of the way through it, the movie shifts and—while it looks great—it’s not all realistic.

Where did your inspiration come from?

For the film, Robert creates an extensive lookbook that he gives to the production designer, Craig Lathrop, and me at the beginning of prep. He embeds the images he compiles into the writing of his screenplay. He wants to know what would be accurate for the period when he's writing a scene. What is the point of including an elevator only to find out that they didn’t have elevators back then? The lookbook is a great primer for me. When I get it, my first order of business is to find things that won’t work exactly as shown. I’ll point out things to Robert, telling him, “I get what you're going for and I’m going to find the thing from 1838 that would work for this.” Interestingly, 1838, the year in which the film takes place, was very specific for men's and women's wear.

What kind of research did you do?

I sourced information from all sorts of books. I found a book that was written in 1838 by “A Lady” that provided a wealth of information on how a household bought clothes. When they would replace their linens, for example, they would get six of everything: six shirts, six nightgowns, six drawers, and six baby nappies. So, I knew that we would need multiples to be used as multiples and pristine costuming.

How did the costuming of particular characters define their personality? For example, can you talk about Ellen’s costumes?

In Robert's version of the Nosferatu story, Ellen has a backstory that I don’t think was present in previous iterations. In the film, she is haunted from childhood. With her, we wanted to evoke a feeling of fragility, youth, and naivete. Also, there is a certain sexuality in the way her costume is partially diaphanous, hinting at the body underneath. We created three versions of her nightgown in different weights. When she runs in the rain, that has to be a heavier fabric. When she is in bed with Hutter, her nightgown is the most delicate of fabrics.

Also with Ellen, we wanted her costumes to define her relationship with Thomas Hutter (Hoult). Even though she comes from wealth, she doesn't care about having a maid, a fancy house, or new clothing. The only thing she really cares about is him.

How about Anna?

There is a distinct difference between Ellen and her friend Anna (Corrin), who is the most precious thing to her wealthy husband, Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). All of Anna's clothing—and she has many, many outfits— are unique and new. You can see by her outfits how much wealth she has at her disposal. With her, I used a lot of fabrics with gold threads in them. Many of her outfits were finished with a very luxe sheen to them. One reason was to reflect the character back in low lighting but I also wanted to suggest how precious she was to Harding.

What about Harding’s look?

Although we repeat a few items, Harding has lots of different outfits, all very new and very expensive, which show off his wealth and prestige.

Count Orlok must have been difficult to dress.

Since Orlok (Skarsgård) dates to the late 1580s, we wanted to imagine him in his period garb. The idea was that he was a real man who lived in the late 16th century in the area that is now Romania, but, when we experience him, his body and clothing are decomposing. When Hutter meets him, he uses his clothing to obscure what he really looks like, especially when he is backlit by fire. For his clothes, we referenced paintings of counts from that period, as well as military books that showed off different uniforms.

Much of the film is shot at night. How did that affect your palette?

This is the fourth film I've done with Robert and Jarin Blaschke, the director of photography. The Lighthouse, which was in black and white, was my biggest learning curve. I learned how important texture and contrast are in creating a silhouette in low light. In The Northman, most of which was set at night or underground, I discovered how useful metallic thread could be to reflect light and give the clothes a bit of kick. I incorporated everything I learned in previous films into the costuming for this film. I adjusted the amount of shine and sheen in the fabric, employing, for example, fur-like material for Harding’s collar and cuffs to create a luscious and light-reflecting effect or using ribbons with a shiny side to them to enhance Ellen's dress. In candlelight, we add extra sheen by having characters wear a lot of jewelry.

How do you creatively curate the costumes for the various characters?

I'm always thinking about where the audience is going to be in the film. I don't want to introduce a whole bunch of new things for no reason. I go through the script thinking about what I can repeat and asking myself, “Why would I repeat it? Should I be adding something new at this point?” In truth, many of these decisions are character-driven. It's often a reflection of their economic status or the circumstances they find themselves in.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.