In 2015, Robert Eggers released his final short film and first feature film. His upcoming feature, Nosferatu, is expected to release sometime in 2024, though no official release date has been confirmed. The film will star a few frequent collaborators of Eggers and a number of first-time partnerships. These stars, in addition to Eggers' own filmmaking style and previous works, make him the perfect director to tackle the iconic horror figure.
In a 2016 interview, Eggers cited Nosferatu and the several Dracula adaptations as some of the most influential films for his filmmaking career. Eggers has strived to make his Nosferatu film for several years, and after a few setbacks, the principal photography for Eggers' film wrapped last month. With several horror films under his belt and profound personal knowledge and interest in Nosferatu and Dracula lore, his ability to mimic the era in which these films are set visually is a skill that lends him well to craft a genuine authenticity of the Romanticism period they hope to personify.
Who is Nosferatu?
The Nosferatu character and subsequent films are adapted from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The 1922 film version, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is the film that Eggers is remaking. In Stoker's novel, Nosferatu goes by the name Count Dracula, which has spawned its own sect of vampire films. However, the 1922 film renamed him Count Orlok, which Eggers will continue to use in his upcoming film. Eggers will also keep the names of its human characters Thomas and Ellen Hutter, as well as a few others.
Despite most assumptions, Nosferatu is not the name of the character but is understood as another word for vampire. Naturally, Nosferatu's character is a vampire who feeds off of the blood of the living. Originating from Transylvania, he lives alone in a castle and sleeps in a coffin filled with dirt he has excavated from his own grave. As a vampire, he is primarily active at night when most of the living are asleep, leaving him to rest during the day.
Who will star in Nosferatu?
In Eggers' film, Bill Skarsgård will star as Count Orlok, the notorious Nosferatu figure. He will be joined by Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp, who will play Thomas and Ellen Hutter respectively. The Hutters find themselves trapped in Orlok's castle and task themselves with ridding the world of his dangerous affliction. Herr Knock, the estate agent who sends Thomas to Orlok, will be played by Simon McBurne. These characters will be joined by others from the 1922 film, including Fredrich Harding who will be played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Dr. Sievers who will be played by Ralph Ineson. Emma Corrin will play Anna Harding while Willem Dafoe will play Professor Von Franz.
Nosferatu will mark the third collaboration between Eggers and Dafoe, as well as Eggers and Ineson. Dafoe and Eggers previously collaborated on The Lighthouse and The Northman, while Ineson worked with Eggers on The Witch and The Northman. Whether these stars have worked with Eggers previously or not, each of them has previously worked in a period piece that provides them with the experience to prepare for a role in an Eggers-led version of Nosferatu.
Eggers' ability to mimic the time period
Except for The Northman and Eggers' short film Brothers, Eggers has primarily made horror or thriller films. Yet, with only three features and three short films under his belt, Eggers has dabbled in several eras, vastly experimenting with his filmmaking. Perhaps the first of Eggers' films that comes to mind in this regard is The Lighthouse, which is likely to be the closest of Eggers' feature films to match Nosferatu. However, Eggers' short films, are both literary adaptations. His adaptations of Hansel and Gretel and The Tell-Tale Heart both channel the gothic tones of the respective literary texts. Hansel and Gretel is a monochrome silent film eerily shot to exaggerate the gothic tone of the story, which uses intertitles to explain the story of the titular characters. Many of the images are overexposed and the colors are often muddled. However, as Eggers' first film, it begins to establish what he's interested in doing as a filmmaker. Subsequently, The Tell-Tale Heart is much tighter in its cinematography and shot composition, beginning to establish some of the tactics Eggers would later utilize in his feature debut with The Witch.
A large part of Eggers' success in mimicking a time period is due to the cinematography. Jarin Blaschke, the cinematographer for Eggers' Nosferatu, has previously worked with Eggers on his three feature films, earning an Academy Award nomination for his work on The Lighthouse. Nosferatu is often regarded for its German Expressionist style and its use of contrast and shadow, but Henrik Galeen who wrote the screenplay for the 1922 film, had profound experience with romanticism. Eggers and Blaschke are likely to channel both expressionism and romanticism in Nosferatu, and Blaschke may find himself receiving another Academy Award nomination for his cinematography after its release. Should Eggers lean into romanticism, Nosferatu will likely have an extremely subjective approach, particularly due to the period's access to emotion and expression of loss and individualism.
What makes Eggers the ideal candidate to adapt Nosferatu is not only his adoration of the vampire tale and knowledge of its rich history but his ability to use his filmmaking style to transport viewers into a previous era. His work on The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman are all examples of Eggers' ability to do so; however, his early short films Hansel and Gretel and The Tell-Tale Heart are stronger cases of this. The comfort for Eggers to work with crew and cast members he's previously collaborated with, allows him to test the bounds of what he's able to do with his own take on the classic vampire tale.