Was Lily-Rose Depp’s Tongue Real in Nosferatu? The creative team explains

Lily-Rose Depp she gave an excellent performance as the possessed Ellen Nosferatu — but how much makeup and effects did she use to bring the character’s creepiest moments to life?

The Robert Eggers– directed film, which hit theaters last month, follows Depp’s Ellen as she is taken literally and metaphysically the ancient vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). While Depp contorts and contracts her body most impressively throughout the film, a particularly memorable scene shows Ellen completely possessed by evil, causing her tongue to stretch out to an unusual extent – leaving viewers wondering if the was real or prosthetic.

“No, it’s her. All of her,” Traci Loadersaid the film’s lead makeup designer My Weekly in an exclusive interview that set the record straight.

As for how the team – who are nominated for the best make-up and hairstyle on Academy Awards 2025 – pulled the scene, Nosferatuhead of the hair department, Suzanne Stokes-Muntonprovided some insight, a narrative Our there was “a lot of collaboration and readjustment” to ensure the moment resonated as viscerally as possible.

“I didn’t want her to have hair all over her face when she was done. So I had to keep in mind that it would be out of the way. So there was (a) discussion with the exercise coach,” she recalled. “Lily did it 17 times and they had to rehearse it for a good hour before that. So it was many times.”

During the scene, Loader had to keep cleaning Depp’s face because the actress was producing so much saliva.

“For me, because she drooled or what just happened naturally, it was just a way of cleaning and I tried to stay out of her space as much as I could because it’s such a mindset to do something like that,” Loader explained. . “So we tried to be very careful (and) do what we had to do.

“They just went and did their thing and she stayed in the spotlight,” she continued. “We just did what we had to do together and then left.

Stokes-Munton also praised Depp’s willingness to be a team player among the creative team. “She was very professional,” she recalled. “With your artists, you get the feeling that if they trust you, you can go for it. They don’t even know you’re there because they know what you’re doing is necessary.” So it was kind of a symbiotic thing.”

Loader describes the collaboration as “like dancing”.

Depp’s hair changes throughout the film to match her character’s journey. Stokes-Munton called it “a more subtle reflection of (the character’s) emotional journey”. Towards the end, her hairstyle evolves and its dull black color matches her fate.

“I don’t really like my hair to be forced or anything, so it goes along with (the character’s journey); the wig doesn’t get paid to act, she does,” joked Stokes-Munton. “So it just heightens those emotions. It’s very subtle.”

Nosferatu is currently in theaters.