Robert Eggers’ long-anticipated remake of F.W. Murnau’s vampire classic Nosferatu is almost with us, and ahead of the film’s as-of-now unnanounced release date, The Lighthouse director sat down with Empire to reveal some tidbits to get us in the mood (as if we weren’t already).
Starring Willem Dafoe, Bill Skarsgård (as the iconic vamp), Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Lily-Rose Depp and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nosferatu wrapped filming in Prague on May 19 after a three month shoot – one which Eggers says was quite the challenge:
“I’m trying to go beyond what I’m capable of,” Eggers tells Empire of Nosferatu in the new Rebel Moon issue. “As always, it was a difficult shoot. Last night we were doing a scene on a ship with a lot of rain and waves, and the rain deflector, which tries to blow rain out of the lens, was breaking down and fogging.”
No stranger to authenticity, Eggers has always strived to make his movies as faithful as possible; from constructing the perfect lighthouse to teaching Alexander Skarsgård to row a fully accurate Viking longboat for The Northman. Unsurprisingly, it seems that he’s also gone all out for Nosferatu too:
“I spent the past several days working only with Russian sailors on a boat,” he says. Thankfully, the scale of The Northman helped prepare the director for another big, bold production – though he’s been trying to make his vampire movie for nearly a decade now. “I’m so happy to have made The Northman first and to have learned what I learned,” he says. “When I think about the production plan of Nosferatu that we had the first time around, I’m sure I would have somehow pulled it out of my butt, but it’s hard not to imagine it being a failure.”
Of course, Eggers’ passion is reflected in the actors he chooses to work with – with such an impressive ensemble cast, it’s hard to choose one performance we’re most excited for, but hearing about his relationship with Dafoe has us particularly hyped:
“Willem’s up for anything and he’ll cut his arm off for the scene,” the director says while reflecting on The Lighthouse. “He is a fucking pleasure to work with: he was in The Northman, he was in Nosferatu, I hope I never made a movie without him.”
Safe to say that alongside Renfield, The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Nosferatu, 2023 is the year of the vamp renaissance (although we’re not sure they EVER went out of style). Keep your eyes peeled for more Nosferatu updates as and when we get them!
