The latest movie from The witch, The lighthouseAnd The Norseman writer/director Robert Eggers is a remake of FW Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch it HERE ), and Focus Features will give the film “a prime holiday season release” when they release it in theaters on Wednesday, 25th of Decemberth. Anticipation is high for this version, so we decided to compile a list of Everything We Know About This Version of Nosferatu:

STORYLINE

Nosferatu tells a familiar story. An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Draculathe original Nosferatu has the following summary: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian mountain castle. The creepy Orlok wants to buy a house near Hutter and his wife Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampiric nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile, Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master’s arrival in his new home.

Stoker’s heirs have sued Murnau over the film and a court has ordered that all copies of Nosferatu were to be destroyed, but fortunately some survived, so we still have Murnau’s film to watch and enjoy. Werner Herzog directed a remake in 1979, and the films Shadow of the Vampire And Mimesis Nosferatu both had to do with making Nosferatu movies.

Eggers’ view of the concept is described as a gothic tale of the obsession between a tormented young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who haunts her and brings unspeakable horrors.

LONG IN WORK

Eggers’ remake was first announced shortly after The witch premiered at Sundance in 2015. It’s a passion project he’s wanted to make for decades, as his first viewing of the film was a turning point in his life. He even co-directed a stage production of the film when he was in high school. He told IndieWire that watching Nosferatu used to be “when I realized this is what I want to do. Nosferatu has a very close, magical connection to me. Although if I were to make the film that 17-year-old Rob would make of Nosferatu it would have been something like that The nightmare Before Christmas And City of Sinwhile this will be the same approach as The witchin which the Biedermeier Germany of the 1830s must be expressed in a realistic manner.” Eggers felt that the “ugly and blasphemous and self-centered and disgusting“for him to have a Nosferatu remake as his second feature film, but that’s how it looked like it was going to happen. However, this wasn’t as easy to get into production as expected, so it turned out that Nosferatu will be his fourth film.

Eggers saw his The witch star Anya Taylor-Joy as the female lead, and her involvement in the project was confirmed in August 2017. But Taylor-Joy’s career took off after The witchso they found it difficult to find space in her schedule to NosferatuAt one point the project moved forward with Taylor-Joy as Ellen Hutter and Bill Skarsgard from the It films as her husband Thomas Hutter. But it fell apart. Then in 2021, it was back on schedule, with filming expected to take place that fall in Prague. Taylor-Joy was still set to play Ellen, with singer Harry Styles as Thomas. But at the last minute, Styles backed out due to scheduling issues, and it all fell apart again.

It was beginning to look like Nosferatu was cursed. Speaking to IndieWire, Eggers said again: “It’s fallen apart twice. … I tried so hard. And I just wonder if Murnau’s ghost is telling me, like, you need to stop.Fortunately, it didn’t take long for him to put the pieces back in place.

FORM

Once Eggers succeeded Nosferatu for the third time on schedule, Taylor-Joy was too busy to fit the film into her schedule again. So the role of Ellen Hutter went to Lily-Rose Depp of The idol. Nicholas Hoult (Renveld) was cast as her husband Thomas, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (bullet train) as Thomas’ friend, the German ship merchant Friedrich Harding, and Emma Corrin (The crown) as Friedrich’s wife Anna. The role of a mad vampire hunter named Von Franz went to Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home). Ralph Ineson (The witch) was cast as Von Franz’s cohort Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Incantation 2) was given an unknown role.

Bill Skarsgard had wanted to work with Eggers for years. As previously mentioned, he was cast as Thomas Hutter in a version of Nosferatu that fell apart. They would work together on The Norsemanwhich starred Skarsgard’s brother Alexander Skarsgard, but then the younger Skarsgard started having scheduling problems. While watching Nosferatu reunited, he was eager to get involved. But then Hoult was cast as Thomas Hutter, so he couldn’t step into that role. He had also read for Friedrich Harding in the past, but that role went to Taylor-Johnson. Things weren’t looking good for Skarsgard… until Eggers offered him the chance to read for the vampire Count Orlok. Skarsgard is only in his early 30s, and Eggers was looking for an actor in his 40s to play the Count… but Skarsgard not only won the job, he’s said to have disappeared into the role the moment he showed up on set.

Speaking to Empire, Eggers said: “I’I will say that Bill is so transformed that I’m afraid he doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves because he just… he’s not there… In my opinion, he looks like a dead Transylvanian nobleman, and in a way that we’ve never seen what a real dead Transylvanian nobleman would look like and be dressed like.He explained to Coming Soon:There are things that are similar to Schreck, but I felt we should do something different. I actually thought, ‘What would a dead Transylvanian nobleman look like in real life?’ Bill lost a tremendous amount of weight. He’s so transformed in every way that I don’t know if people will give him credit. You can see Bill (as Pennywise) in the It makeup; there’s no Bill in there. He worked with an opera coach to lower his voice an octave. I think people will think we digitally treated it, but that’s his performance.“

During an interview with Esquire, Skarsgard revealed that he spent three to six hours a day applying makeup and prosthetics so he could become Count Orlok. He mostly stayed away from his castmates and worked with an opera singer to get his voice as low as possible. He said: “It took its toll. It was like I was summoning pure evil. It took a while before I could shake off the demon that had been summoned within me. … I don’t think people will recognize me in it.When asked if the vampire was sexy, he replied:He’s gross. But it’s very sexualized. It plays on a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and how that attraction affects you. Hopefully you’re kind of attracted to it and at the same time disgusted by your attraction.“

Eggers was also asked how Skarsgard got into his character. He said: “I remember early on in his life he tried to talk to me about what it meant to be a dead wizard, and I’m kind of into heavy occult shit, but he was on another level. I was like, ‘This sounds accurate, but I don’t know how to talk about this fluently.’“

EGGERS PUSHES HIMSELF

Eggers, who is also producing the remake with Jeff Robinson, John Graham, Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus, was so determined to make his dream project something special that he pushed himself beyond what he had previously been able to do. In the middle of production, he told Empire: “As always, it was a tough 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, broke and fogged up. I’ve only worked with Russian sailors on a boat for the past few days. I’m so glad I The Norseman first and to have learned what I have learned. When I think about the production plan of Nosferatu If we had the first time, I would have probably pulled it out of my ass somehow, but it’s hard not to imagine it being a failure.“

It sounds like this version of the film was a success. It certainly made an impression on Dafoe, who had worked with Eggers on The lighthouseHe told IndieWire: “(Eggers) is getting better and better, getting clearer and clearer, more aware. He’s so clear when he works. The movie opens in December of next year, which is a long way off. I’m trying to be optimistic, but I think the studio must feel pretty strongly about it, because that’s a pretty tough time, so I’m excited about it. I saw some of the footage when we were shooting, and I can honestly say that visually it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. … The look and the way it was shot was extraordinary.He added that the look is very beautiful and that his fellow actors look like they have stepped out of 19th century paintings in their wardrobes.

TEASER TRAILER

A teaser trailer for Nosferatu was released in June 2024 and can be seen here: