Emma Corrin on acting with rats for ‘Nosferatu’: ’30 of them were on my bare chest’

Emma Corrin got up close and personal with rats for the film Nosferatu.

The actor, who uses they/them pronouns, told Deadline they filmed a scene for the upcoming horror film where many rats swarmed them.

“30 of them were on my bare chest,” Corrin said. “Honestly, I was being very brave about it. I was very much stoic, being very British about it, really. And then we were in the scene, and I had no top on, and it was just horrible.”

Corrin went on to say how awful the smell of the rats was.

“The smell is something that you can’t imagine. And the incontinence was a thing that I really didn’t expect, but was terrible. … It was grim,” Corrin said. “They loved my hair, so they would go and sit in the wig and get all up in my face. Do you watch I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!? You know when they had to put their hand in the box with the tarantulas? It was a bit like that, I won’t lie.”

The film’s director, Robert Eggers, estimates that 5,000 live rats were used in the making of the movie.

“The big thing that makes it difficult is that we had to contain them for their safety with plexiglass that you don’t see on camera,” Eggers said. “But what was more challenging was for Emma Corrin, who has live rats placed on their body, and they’re incontinent or defecating and urinating on Emma take, after take, after take. That’s difficult.”