Lily-Rose Depp defended following ‘iPhone face’ criticism as new film is released

25-year-old actress Lily-Rose Depp, star of Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, has been fiercely defended by those lucky enough to have seen the film already.

The 2024 psychological horror was released on Christmas Day in the United States, while those of us in the United Kingdom have an excrutiating wait until 1 January to feast our eyes on the film, which alongside Depp stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Willem Dafoe.

The eerie title follows the 1922 silent film of the same name, which served as an unauthorised Dracula spin-off.

Depp stars as Ellen Hutter, who recently married Thomas Hutter (Hoult), who is eventually made the object of Count Orlok's obsession (Skarsgård).

With critics lauding Depp's performance as a career best, fans are hitting back at a ludicrous criticism which went viral on social media following news of her being cast by Eggers.

People deduced that Depp wasn't a good fit for Nosferatu - which opens in the year 1838 - due to her having 'iPhone face'.

Ultimately, this suggests that the actress looks like she's seen an iPhone, so would be out of place in a period piece.

Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen (Universal Pictures)

Depp's stellar performance has been praised by critics, with Harry Thorfinn-George writing for The Arts Desk: "Lily-Rose Depp is fantastic in this physically demanding role, convulsing and contorting her body in nightly fits of sleepwalking and when awake carrying a forlorn, ashen look of despair across her face worthy of a gothic melodrama. It’s the type of performance the Academy ought to pay attention to if they deigned to watch horror films."

Depp, who is the daughter of actor Johnny Depp and model Vanessa Paradis, clearly took the monumental role in her stride and delivered an edge-of-your-seat performance, proving the prior criticism to be baseless.

Depp's performance has been widely praised (Universal Pictures)

One person wrote on X: "Who was the dumbass who tweeted that lily-rose depp had too much iphone face to be in nosferatu?? she was the most 1830s looking b****h in the whole film."

Another said: "Lily-Rose Depp has the complete opposite of whatever iPhone face is because I believe she knows what Victorian London was like because she was there."

A third said: "Nosferatu was everything I wanted it to be, and whoever said lily rose depp has iPhone face is crazy bc she absolutely gives 1800s woman haunted by vampire. Bill skarsgard as count orlok??? wtf. Amazing."

And a fourth added: "Also those of you who said lily rose has iphone face please get to the back of the line."