Ever wondered what Nosferatu does in his free time? Watch below, brought to you by Thursday Shoots!
Who Made It
The short comes from Thursday Shoots, a New York filmmaking team that, by its own count, has screened at more than 100 festivals and taken home over 30 awards across shorts, features, web series, and music videos. Charlie DesJardin wrote and directed. Kevin Etherson plays the Count, sitting down at the draft table with the rest of the league: DesJardin, Tom A. Capps, Phillip Russell, Michael Mercadante, Joe Jungermann, Anthony Volpe, and Crystal DesJardin.
DesJardin, Capps, Etherson, Russell, and Mercadante produced, with Jungermann as associate producer. Makeup and effects come from Charlie Vancil and Jackie Green, which is the department carrying the joke here, because the bit only lands if Orlok still looks like Orlok while he is arguing about a running back. Nicole Dark and Kim Dallas ran camera, Dakota Nelson and Dom Brocc handled G&E and AC, Capps edited, and Mercadante colored.
Why It Is Always Orlok
There is a practical reason the most recognizable vampire in silent film keeps turning up in independent comedy, and it is a legal one. F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens was an unauthorized Dracula adaptation, made in 1922 with the names filed off, and Bram Stoker’s widow, Florence, sued over it. She won. A German court ordered every print destroyed in 1925, and the only reason anyone can watch the film today is that copies had already scattered across borders ahead of the ruling. It has sat in the public domain for decades since, which means Count Orlok belongs to everybody. No studio to call, no rights to clear.
The other reason is that the silhouette still reads instantly, and the character has never really left. Werner Herzog remade the film as Nosferatu the Vampyre in 1979 with Klaus Kinski. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) handed the role of Max Schreck to Willem Dafoe and floated the idea that the 1922 performance was not a performance at all. Robert Eggers brought him back on Christmas Day 2024 with Bill Skarsgård buried under prosthetics we walked through with makeup master David White, and Eggers told us himself that he will never set one of his films in modern times.
Which leaves the question this short actually answers. Orlok has been on screen since 1922. Fantasy football did not exist until 1962, when an Oakland Raiders limited partner and a couple of friends drew up the first league. That is forty years of lead time on everyone else at the table. He knows ball.
