Warning: The following contains major spoilers for the Nosferatu 2024 remake.Emma Corrin recalls their initial reaction to reading about Anna's death in Nosferatus. Directed by Robert Eggers, the 2024 remake of the 1922 film Nosferatusrevolves around a fatal love story between Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) and Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), the woman who woke him up. 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 causing Anna to be bitten by his rats. Anna witnesses her children's blood being drained before they die.
Corrin opens up to Screen speech about their first reaction upon reading Anna's death. The actor remembers asking Eggers if the rats were real, and Eggers gave them a positive answer. Corrin admits that the scene was "incredibly unpleasant"film but they too"I felt immensely for Anna." Shedding more light on Anna's character arc, Corrin shares that they love "the complexity"and the way she's torn between"your religious belief"and she"unconditional friendship"with Ellen, which causes her to die"more tragic." Check out what Corrin said below:
What was your reaction when you first read about Anna's death and how it would happen?
Corrin: I remember, first of all, I texted Rob [Eggers] and asked if the rats were real or CGI. And he sent a very short message back, like, well, obviously real. I'm like, I'm sorry I asked.
I was, I mean, obviously feeling sorry for Anna, but also, I thought, wow, what an incredible arc. I love the way Rob, even with minor characters, there's nothing that goes unnoticed. He is very attentive. He considers characters from all angles.
And yes, 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 faces, and it's even more tragic when she dies.
How was this experience?
Corrin: It's more or less what you think it would be. Incredibly nasty, but so are the things you do for Robert Eggers.
What does this mean for Nosferatu?
Rats are real
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 mice were used during filming, with all the rats in the foreground being real. Corrin's comment confirms that the shocking scene of Anna lying on the floor with rats feeding on her body was filmed with real rats, despite the level of discomfort, shedding light on the lengths to which Eggers and the cast went to make it. Nosferatus.
Since NosferatusArriving on December 25, 2024, the film has gained a reputation for being the darkest film of the year with disturbing images and nudity. Anna covered in rats is just the first scene of her final death. In Anna's final scene, she watches Count Orlok drain the blood of one of his sons, while the other lies dead on the floor.
Our opinion 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 Nosferatus. She is also highly identifiable as a mother and wife married to a professor in the 1830s. Anna sides with her husband and expresses disbelief over Ellen's claim that a demonic figure is behind the plague. She also concludes Ellen's "melancholy" as her longing for Thomas. Like any other mother, she comforts her children when they are afraid that a demon will come and get them. But in this case the devil is real.
Despite differences of opinion, Anna's friendship with Ellen remains unshakable. Anna comes face to face with Orlok in her final scene. It's a powerful ending to her character arc Nosferatus why all of Anna's beliefs and hopes were destroyed at that exact moment. The enormous shock and emotions she goes through from non-believer to believer, from a grieving mother to a person facing her own death are unimaginable.