Did Lily-Rose Depp’s Tongue in Nosferatu Have Special Effects? Insights from the Creative Team
Lily-Rose Depp gave an exceptional performance as the possessed Ellen in Nosferatu — but what role did makeup and special effects play in bringing her character’s most chilling moments to life?
The film, directed by Robert Eggers and released last month, follows Depp’s character, Ellen, who is captured—both physically and spiritually—by the sinister Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). While Depp impressively twists and flexes her body throughout the film, one particularly striking scene depicts Ellen being completely overtaken by evil, resulting in her tongue extending dramatically and leaving viewers questioning if it was real or a prosthetic.
“No, that’s her. All her,” Traci Loader, the lead makeup designer for the film, clarified in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly.
Regarding how the makeup team—nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 2025 Academy Awards—achieved this moment, Nosferatu’s hair department head, Suzanne Stokes-Munton, shared insights, explaining that there was a “lot of collaboration and resetting” involved to make the scene resonate as intensely as possible.
“I didn’t want hair all over her face when she ends up. So, I had to be mindful that it would be out of the way. So, there was [a] discussion with the movement coach,” she mentioned. “Lily did that 17 times, and they must have rehearsed it for about an hour beforehand. It was quite a number of times.”
In this pivotal moment, Loader had to frequently clean Depp’s face due to the actress naturally producing a considerable amount of saliva.
“For me, because she would slobber or whatever just naturally happened, it was just kind of cleaning it up, 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 noted. “So, we tried to be very mindful [and] do what we had to do.”
“They just went and did their thing, and she just stayed in her focus,” she added. “We just did what we had to do together and then stepped away.”
Many celebrities took their role transformations to new heights in 2024’s biggest films. For instance, Cynthia Erivo underwent several hours of green body paint to portray Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in Wicked. “It takes about two hours and 45 minutes to four hours, depending on how much we were […]
Stokes-Munton commended Depp for her collaboration with the creative team. “She was incredibly professional,” she remembered. “You find that with your artists, that if they trust you, they can work without being aware of your presence, knowing what you’re doing is essential. It created a somewhat symbiotic relationship.”
Loader described the teamwork as akin to “a dance.”
Throughout the movie, Depp’s hair evolves to reflect her character’s emotional arc. Stokes-Munton referred to it as a “subtler reflection of [the character’s] emotional journey.” By the conclusion, her hairstyle transforms, with its dull black hue symbolizing her destiny.
“I don’t want my hair to draw attention to itself, so it progresses along with [the character’s journey]; the wig doesn’t take the spotlight, she does,” Stokes-Munton joked. “So, it merely enhances those emotions. It’s very understated.”
Nosferatu is currently showing in theaters.
