Nosferatu Star Reacts To Their Character's Gruesome Death: "I'm So Sorry I Asked"

Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Nosferatu 2024 remake.Emma Corrin recalls their initial reaction reading about Anna's death in Nosferatu. Directed by Robert Eggers, the 2024 remake of the 1922 film, Nosferatu, revolves around a fatal love story between Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) and Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), the woman who awakened him. While her husband is abroad, Ellen stays with Anna and Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As a way of convincing Ellen to be his, Count Orlok threatens the lives of her loved ones, including having Anna being bitten by his rats. Anna witnesses her children being drained of blood before meeting her demise.

Corrin opens up to Screen Rant about their first reaction to reading Anna's death. The actor recalls asking Eggers whether the rats would be real, who gave them a positive response. Corrin admits that the scene was "incredibly unpleasant" to film but they also "massively felt for Anna." Shedding more light on Anna's character arc, Corrin shares that they love "the complexity" and the way she's torn between "her religious belief" and her "unconditional friendship" with Ellen, which makes her death "more tragic." Check out what Corrin said below:

What was your reaction when you first read about Anna's death, and how it was going to happen? Corrin: I remember, first of all, I texted Rob [Eggers] and asked if the rats were going to be real or CGI. And he sent a very short text back being like, well, obviously real. I'm like, I'm so sorry I asked. I was, I mean, obviously massively felt for Anna, but also, I thought, wow, what a great arc. I love the way that Rob, even with the smaller characters, there is nothing that goes unthought about. He's very considerate. He considers characters from all angles. And yeah, I love playing her. I love the complexity of it, and her friendship with Ellen and how she's torn between her religious belief and this unconditional friendship, and the other choice she's faced with, and all the more tragic when she dies. What was that experience like? Corrin: It's kind of what you think it would be like. Incredibly unpleasant, but also the things you do for Robert Eggers.

What This Means For Nosferatu

The Rats Are Real

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Eggers' 2024 film is praised by many critics as a stunning gothic horror with a highly detailed production. Eggers previously revealed that approximately 5,000 real rats were used during filming, with all rats in the foreground being real. Corrin's comment confirms that the shocking scene of Anna lying on the ground with rats feeding on her body was shot with real rats, despite their level of discomfort, shedding light on the length Eggers and the cast went to in order to make Nosferatu.

Related What Bill Skarsgård's Count Orlok Looks Like In Nosferatu Bill Skarsgård's iteration of Count Orlok in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu looks different in a few ways from the original Count.

Since Nosferatu's arrival on December 25, 2024, the film has gained a reputation for being the darkest movie of the year with disturbing imagery and nudity. Anna being covered in rats is only the first scene toward her ultimate demise. In Anna's final scene, she watches Count Orlok draining the blood out of one of her children, while the other lays dead on the floor.

Our Take On Anna's Arc In Nosferatu

Anna's Powerful Final Scene Marks The End Of The Character

Anna is one of the most innocent characters in Nosferatu. She's also highly relatable as a mother and woman married to a professor in the 1830s. Anna takes her husband's side and expresses disbelief about Ellen's claim that a demonic figure is behind the plague. She also concludes Ellen's "melancholy" as her longing for Thomas. Like every other mother, she comforts her children when they are scared of a demon coming to get them. Only in this case, the demon is real.

Despite their differences of opinion, Anna's friendship with Ellen remains unshaken. Anna comes face to face with Orlok in her final scene. It's a powerful end to her character arc in Nosferatu because all Anna's beliefs and hope are shattered at that very moment. The enormous shock and emotions she goes through from a non-believer to a believer, a grieving mother, and a person facing her own death is unimaginable.