Like most Nosferatu stories, Orlok is represented in Eggers’ film as more of a horror than a hunk; he also represents a sort of forbidden desire for Ellen. “To have the attraction to this figure… I think he was probably a beautiful man at some point, but now he’s covered in maggots,” the director said. “That’s interesting to me.”

In an Elle video released Monday, Hoult said the horror film’s director, Robert Eggers, mailed him a prosthetic penis that fellow actor Bill Skarsgård used in his portrayal of the iconic vampire Count Orlok.