Nicholas Hoult Notes 'Stinky' 'Nosferatu' Rats Amid PETA Protests

I appreciate that many animals in films and TV are done with CG these days. It doesn’t always look right, but avoiding the uncanny valley with animals is easier than it is with humans. Once you realize it’s fake (seconds or minutes in) it is hard to unsee, but there isn’t an instant rejection (at least on my part) like there is when humans are recreated. Also, it’s nice to know that an animal, who doesn’t know what a movie is, isn’t forced to be in one for something that could likely be done with CG. That doesn’t mean I’m against animal use in movies.

There are protections put in place when animals are used on set. Hollywood has a miserable history of animal abuse, but it also has a history of trained animals. People work hard to train animals to respond to certain cues and those animals work hard as well. A bond is formed between the animal and the trainer when all is done correctly and above board, which is something special. So, when I heard that Robert Eggers was using a mix of CG and real rats for Nosferatu, I turned from my computer and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up and a nod.

Eggers is a fantastic auteur director who isn’t a major jerk (as far as I know). If he wants to use real rats, I can trust it is for good reason. He also noted, in an interview with Guillermo del Toro, that the rats were well-trained. Nicholas Hoult echoed a similar sentiment on The Graham Norton Show, first remarking on their training. “I think we had like 5,000 rats,” he explained. “Some of them were trained as well. They were all trained, and I was like, ‘You couldn’t have trained all of them.’ There were certain pockets of them that were trained.”

Trained or not, Eggers and Hoult both reflected on the smell of their furry stars. “And they were incontinent rats, so it was kinda stinky,” Hoult told Norton. “I heard someone else say they were incontinent, it sounded smart. You’re right, they’re just rats. They just pee and poo anywhere. Luckily, I just had to wade through them.” Eggers had brought up the smell before, so this wasn’t new. However, bringing it up when PETA is planning to protest the film, struck me as odd.

I don’t expect the stars to not talk about the rats. I’m just surprised talk hasn’t lessened since PETA proclaimed their plans. They are none too pleased with the rat usage in the film! Not because the rats are being abused. There were no reports of an unsafe environment. They believe the rats would find a film set chaotic and confusing, which is fair, but they also don’t want the rats to get a bad rap. Rats are shown in the film to bring the plague to London, a stereotype PETA doesn’t want to be perpetuated.

Look, rats can’t speak up for themselves, so we’ll never know if they like or dislike that … “stereotype.” Regardless, it feels like a silly thing to combat at this point. No one is going to be more radicalized against rats after seeing Nosferatu.