Nosferatu, Please

[machetelanding]

Max Schreck taking a break while filming Nosferatu (1922)

[nosferatuplz]

I feel like I was literally just talking about this, and yet here we are again because people just love lies instead of the truth! This is a promotional photo based on the producer's artwork. As in, Mr. Schreck posed for this photo, in character. He was not just sitting there and they caught him. Lol but WHATEVER, right? That's not an interesting caption.

[jelly-f1nz]

Willem Dafoe getting silly on the set of Shadow of the Vampire

X

(timestamp 5:50)

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This is the best thing I've seen in a long time, thank you so much XDDD

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Is this blog still alive? I sure hope so

The blog is a completed project. However, Count Orlok is a cosplay I'm planning to (no-pun) revamp in the coming year or so. I've learned how to sew, so I might end up using the side blog strange--cargo to document making his costume from scratch! Don't know if that's the kind of answer you're looking for, but I do see all the likes/reblogs and I appreciate that this project is still being enjoyed! Love Nosferatu, love Max Schreck... forever!

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Happy birthday to the quiet, lovely, mysterious, silly Virgo, Max Schreck. I'll never stop celebrating him!

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“In October, after he had already begun the new play season at the Munich Theater, Max Schreck once again had to return to Berlin to shoot the last shots of [Nosferatu] at the Jofa studios. The press was loaded with artistically designed invitation cards for the filming of the “final scenes”. Being shot was the dreadful scene in which the Nosferatu rises below the deck of the ship from one of his coffins. The Film-Kurier of October 12, 1921 reported: “Record! Dr. Murnau, the director, will conduct the scene. At his call, the coffin lid pops up and, slowly, slowly lifted by unseen hands, Nosferatu’s shape darts steeply up: the vampire, the typical two invisors in an otherwise toothless mouth (…) Nosferatu’s make-up, which Max Schreck of Munich displays, is terrifying. Bloodshot eyes staring out from a bald head with two pointed ears like a bat’s. The long, gaunt figure is in a "black”/dreary suit. Spindly arms with long curved fingernails.“ Beforehand, Max Schreck speaks, apparently in full Nosferatu costume, with some journalists: "He’s glad that the role is played out. He tells us a lot of serious artistic work went into this film,” reports the Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger about the conversation with him. But until Nosferatu finally arrived in theaters, the production company Prana apparently still had to overcome some problems. At the end of November, there was once again an announcement that the recordings of Nosferatu were to be finished.”

—

– From pages 135 and 136 of Gespenstertheater

The text was translated by me, and I am not a fluent German speaker. Original German text under cut:

Im Oktober, nachdem er bereits wieder an den Münchner Kammerspielen zur neuen Theater-Saison angetreten war, muss Max Schreck noch einmal zurueck nach Berlin, um in den Jofa-Ateliers letzte Aufnahmen des Films zu drehen. Die Presse wird mit kuenstlerisch gestalteten Einladungskarten zu den Dreharbeiten der “letzten Szenen” geladen. Gedreht wird die fuerchterliche Szene, in der sich der Nosferatu unter Deck des Schiffes aus einem seiner Saerge erhebt. Der Film-Kurier vom 12 Oktober 1921 berichtet: “Aufnahme! Dr. Murnau, der Regisseur, dirigiert die Szene.

Auf seinen Ruf springt der Sargdeckel auf und langsam, langsam von unsichtbaren Händen gehoben, pfeilt sich steil die Gestalt Nosferatus auf: Der Vampyr, die typischen zwei Schneidezähne im sonst zahnlosen Mund (…) Die Maske Nosferatus, den Max Schreck aus München darstellt, ist grauenerregend. Blutunterlaufene Augen starren aus einem kahlen Schädel, mit zwei spitz zulaufendern Ohren der Fledermaus. Die lange, hagere Figur steckt in einem schwarzen Anzug. Spindeldürre Arme dazu mit langen gebogenen Fingernägeln.”

Vorher spricht Max Schreck, anscheinend in voller Nosferatu-Montur, mit einigen Journalisten, “Er ist froh, dass die Rolle ausgespielt ist. Er erzählt uns viel von der ernsten künstlerischen Arbeit, die in diesem Film steckt,” berichter der Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger ueber das Gespräch mit ihm.

Aber bis Nosferatu endlich in die Kinos gelangt, müssen anscheinend vor allen von der Produktionsfirma Prana noch erliche Schwierigkeiten überwunden werden. Ende November erscheint noch einmal die Meldung, dass die Aufnahmen zu Nosferatu nun beendet seien.

[nosferatuplz]

Proof that Max Schreck was not a method actor or other such nonsense. He spoke to the press in costume, who were invited to watch the film being shot at Jofa studios in Berlin.

[thewindowofthesummerhouse]

Max Schreck on the set of Nosferatu (1922) Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau

[nosferatuplz]

This was actually a promotional photo, not just Max hanging out on set. It was staged. Here is the artwork from producer Albin Grau that it was supposed to resemble: 

Max Schreck was a human being, an actor. A great actor. He was not a vampire or some weirdo who came to the set refusing to break character. lol Let’s all remember that and start passing on real information instead of mythology. 

[uselesstwinkharker]

those feratu

[nosferatuplz]

Ew. I would not want to be locked in a room with that guy.

my mother, watching Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire for the first time.

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Just discovered this project now--VERY nicely done. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on Max's wife, Fanny Schreck, and whether she actually did play the nurse in Nosferatu. Looking at pictures of Fanny and screen shots of the nurse, I just don't see them as the same person. BTW, I also ordered Max's biography from Germany--unfortunately, I don't speak German at all, so translating it slowly in Google Translate.

Hey, thank you! Your question coincides with me watching Shadow of the Vampire for the first time in a couple of years – still a treat. Like many aspects of that film, the idea that Fanny Schreck was an extra in Nosferatu is just a myth. Who knows where it came from or why anyone had to insist upon it! You’re right – the nurse looks nothing like her. And also, she was an actress herself who wouldn’t need to piggyback off her husband for a tiny role she wasn’t even credited for.

Good luck with the book – google translate may give you some good clues about his life. I was never totally strong in German when I was doing most of my research; I just learned a lot because of repeated exposure to words. The pictures alone in Gespenstertheater are fascinating and revealing, though, aren’t they? :)

[nosferatuplz]

“AHOY, MAIDEN.”

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Just out of curiosity, what draws you to Orlok?

He is beautiful... in his own special way! He is elegant and poetic through his gestures, with a perfect otherworldliness in his gaze. But he’s also an impish little shit, so there’s a perfect balance of grace and mischief. I love how you can’t help but laugh when he’s being menacing, but at the same time he really is kind of a badass. Mr. Schreck brings so many layers to him, it’s fantastic.

[nosferatuplz]

Is this blog dead? Please come back, I really enjoy your stuff! I just got over my fear of Orlok that I used to have horribly. I just recently rewatched the movie and have a newfound appreciation for it :)

I was about to say it’s dead as a doormat, but it shouldn’t be seen as a “dead blog”. It should be seen as a completed project. How much fun can you pull out of a silent film? This here! I mean, honestly, is there something I haven’t screencapped or giffed already? lol I pretty much shared every possible trivia and observation that I could. I even went into overkill about the cast and crew, which lost me followers. I’ve moved on to other passions now - it is their time to shine! Thank you for enjoying the blog, though! It’s still up and collecting cobwebs so fine folks like you can find it and thumb through. ^o^ If ever something changes and I resurrect the Orlok cosplay, I will be sure to leave a note up here. Take care!-J

[cryptofwrestling]

Nosferatu by William Stout

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OLAY

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[pixelated-nightmares]

Nosferatu by DougSirois

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My bestie love-gift got me a Nosferatu dolly! Yeah that’s my kitchen back there.