Lily-Rose Depp said she’s found a “real through line” between her roles in the short-lived HBO show “The Idol” and Robert Eggers’ fresh take on the classic silent vampire film “Nosferatu.”
Depp told IndieWire she “definitely” feels her physical and emotional work as Jocelyn — the troubled pop star who is romantically tied to Tedros (played by The Weeknd) on “The Idol,” the focus of a disturbing Rolling Stone exposé — taught her “so much” before she starred as Ellen Hutter in Eggers’ movie.
“Jocelyn and Ellen could not be more different characters, and the worlds that they have could not be more different from each other,” Depp said. “There is a through line there to me in that they’re both very specific, demanding roles and clearly, that’s something that I’m interested in exploring.”
She described “The Idol,” which The Weeknd co-created with Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim, as a “real growth period” for her as an actor and as a person.
The show, which was panned by critics and canceled after one season, marked Depp’s first time starring in a TV series.
“Nosferatu” sees Depp play a “haunted young woman” pursued by Transylvanian vampire Count Orlok (played by Bill Skarsgård) who is “infatuated” by her, per a film synopsis.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Depp noted that the role was “physically and emotionally demanding” as Ellen fills up with tears, contorts her body and convulses as her eyes roll back in a film that had assistance from choreographer Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, an expert in Japanese butoh.
“The torment that she’s going through is the meat of the movie,” Depp said of her “Nosferatu” character. “The darkness she’s carried within her since she was younger is now coming to a head. She found a husband that has been able to anchor her to the world, the light, and then he goes away and leaves her vulnerable to the forces who want to claim her.”
She told IndieWire that she learned “so much” doing “The Idol” that it “carried” with her to “Nosferatu,” which she said was shot just two months after the HBO show wrapped.
“So I feel like I had that in my body, the physicality and the emotion and everything. I definitely brought that with me, even though, you know, it’s a very different style of filmmaking,” Depp said.
We Need Your Support
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“It’s very different in a lot of ways, but I did feel those similarities.”
Eggers’ “Nosferatu” hit theaters on Christmas Day.