You might have already read that Robert Eggers used 5,000 rats on Nosferatu, but Nicholas Hoult wasn't as scared of them as he was the 'wolves'.
Talking to Digital Spy, Hoult – who plays Thomas Hutter – recalled a terrifying experience filming a scene with Czech shepherd dogs who had the job of running after a scared Thomas in Count Orlok's castle.
"Before the scene, I was physically trying to get myself exhausted and stuff, I'd run up and down the spot and they'd be held back on leashes on the other side of the room, barking and going mad," he explained.
Related: Nosferatu is the best horror movie of the year
"I knew that three beats after action [was called], they'd get released and just chase me to this window. There was one time where I slipped trying to get out the window and I was like, 'Oh no, what happens when they get me'.
"I pulled like some weird silly face and Rob was like, 'That's a silly face, what are you doing' and I was like, 'Well that was my real fear, I don't know what to say, I wasn't trying to pull silly faces'."
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As for what would have happened if the 'wolves' had caught him, Hoult had a very sensible response to it: "I didn't ask because I thought it was better if I didn't know. I guess they'd have just started licking my face maybe."
For writer/director Eggers, the use of real dogs rather than CGI helped to keep the torment of Thomas Hutter engaging, even if it meant freaking Hoult out a bit.
"Nick has a tough role where he is crapping his pants for two hours and that's a hard thing to keep going and keep interesting and keep escalating," he noted. "It's like a Greek tragedy with less dialogue."
Related: Nosferatu debuts with near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating
As for Willem Dafoe, he was "happy" that Eggers made a point to keep everything as real as possible while filming Nosferatu, even the rats.
"It makes it an event. It makes it exciting. It makes it special. It puts you there. You have something really concrete to play with," he enthused.
"I like rats, I like animals. The only problem in working with them is as you go through a sea of rats, you don't want to step on any of them."
Ahead of the movie's release, Aaron Taylor-Johnson also spoke to Digital Spy about what makes Nosferatu an ideal Christmas watch.
Nosferatu is out now in US cinemas and is released in UK cinemas on New Year's Day.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
