The cast and crew of Suspiria spent the past year pretending Tilda Swinton was actually a nonexistent German actor

Suspiria's biggest twist has just been revealed, and it has nothing to do with the film's actual plot.

Tilda Swinton admitted to The New York Times this week that one of the supposed main actors of the new Suspiria, a remake of the 1977 horror classic, doesn't actually exist and was really her in makeup and prosthetics all along. This concludes a ridiculously elaborate hoax, which began earlier this year when director Luca Guadagnino claimed the role of Dr. Klemperer was being played by a first-time German actor named Lutz Ebersdorf. But curiously, nobody could find any proof that Ebersdorf was actually a real person.

Things got even stranger when Ebersdorf did not appear at any events to promote the film despite being the third lead. Fans began to speculate that the role of Dr. Klemperer was actually being played by Swinton in heavy prosthetics and makeup, but the Suspiria crew insisted Ebersdorf was definitely a real actor. Guadagnino called the theories "complete fake news" in February, per Yahoo. And at the Venice Film Festival, Swinton even read a statement supposedly written by Ebersdorf, saying he's a "private individual who prefers to remain private."

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Swinton told The New York Times that everyone was so focused on asking her if she was playing Dr. Klemperer that they never asked if she was playing actor Lutz Ebersdorf. If they had, she implies, she would have revealed the truth earlier. Swinton committed to the bit so hard, she even wrote an entire fake IMDB profile for Ebersdorf, The New York Times reports.

So what was the point of this elaborate, year-long hoax? As Swinton put it, "for the sheer sake of fun above all."

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.