A choreographer with strong Welsh roots was behind Lily-Rose Depp's 'moving' Nosferatu performance.

Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, who was raised in Haverfordwest and has strong family roots in Cardigan, is the movement choreographer behind the upcoming horror movie Nosferatu by Robert Eggers, which will be released on January 1, 2025.

The film is a remake of the 1922 German vampire classic by Murnau.

Ms Rotie has more than 30 years of experience as an artist and movement choreographer. She was set on the path to her current career as a young child dancing in the Eisteddfod.

Her sports teacher, Alison Moyles, who she is still in touch with, was inspirational in introducing creative movement into her comprehensive school, Sir Thomas Picton, in Haverfordwest.

Ms Rotie has gone on to have a long career working with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and more recently, Hollywood arthouse films.

She worked with acclaimed film director Robert Eggers on his previous film, the Viking epic The Northman (2021), with Anya Taylor Joy and Alexander Skarsgard, and for Netflix's The Witcher, with Henry Cavill and the main cast.

In Nosferatu, Ms Rotie worked with Bill Skarsgard, who plays vampire Orlok, and with Lily-Rose Depp, who plays his love interest, Ellen Hutter.

Ms Rotie helped Depp, daughter of actor and musician Johnny Depp, unlock an 'intensely physical language of movement.'

Ms Rotie said: "As a movement choreographer, my work involves coaching actors to access movements within themselves, being creative in their own investigation, to bring their characters’ movements to life."

On working with Ms Depp, she said: "Lily-Rose is an accomplished mover and brings incredible emotional rawness to her work.

"My job was to build for her the language for possession and hysteria, which are recurring themes of the film."

In numerous movement rehearsals with Ms Depp, Ms Rotie developed a framework of movements that could best convey the character as she falls under the vampire’s spell.

Ms Depp's haunting performance has been widely acclaimed by critics.

In a post-screening discussion in Los Angeles with acclaimed film director Guillermo del Toro (who described the movement work as "remarkable"), Mr Eggers recognised the impact of the role on Ms Depp.

He said: "Yeah [we had] Marie Gabrielle Rotie, a Butoh choreographer who I worked with also with on The Northman (2021).

"Lily did tons and tons and tons of body work with her. The results were so impressive.

"A lot of people have wondered if some of that stuff is CGI enhanced, but she did all of that stuff physically."

On Ms Rotie, Ms Depp told Vanity Fair: "She is phenomenal, really helped me map it all out."

Nosferatu opens in UK cinemas on January 1, 2025.