‘Nosferatu’ director Robert Eggers.
Opening in theaters on December 25th is ‘Nosferatu’, which is a remake of the classic 1922 German film, which itself was loosely based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel ‘Dracula’.
The new movie was written and directed by Robert Eggers (‘The Lighthouse’ and ‘The Northman’), and stars Bill Skarsgård (‘John Wick: Chapter 4’), Nicholas Hoult (‘The Order’), Lily-Rose Depp (‘The Idol’), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (‘Kraven the Hunter’), Emma Corrin (‘Deadpool & Wolverine’), Ralph Ineson (‘The Creator’), and Willem Dafoe (‘Poor Things’).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with filmmaker Robert Eggers in an extended interview about his work on ‘Nosferatu’, why he wanted to make the movie, his love for the original, the look of the new film, visual vs. practical effects, Bill Skarsgård and Lily-Rose Depp’s performances, why he loves working with Willem Dafoe, why he will never make a modern movie, and what he learned from making this project.
Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Nosferatu’
Director Robert Eggers on the set of his film ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your fascination with the source material, why you wanted to remake this film, and how you wanted to do it differently than what we’ve seen before from this genre?
Robert Eggers: I mean, I saw F. W. Murnau‘s ‘Nosferatu’ that was made in 1922 when I was nine years old, and I watched on a VHS that was made from a degraded 16-millimeter print and there was a way in which the world and the vampire played by Max Schreck just seemed real and unearthed from the past and I was just totally transported to that world. I also loved that it turned Bram Stoker’s novel into a very simple fairy tale. So, I’ve been obsessed with ‘Nosferatu’ most of my life, but it’s not enough to be obsessed and love something there. You must have a reason to do it again. I thought that if I could tell the story through the eyes of the female protagonist, through Lily-Rose Depp’s character, that there would be a greater chance for the film to have more emotional and psychological depth because yes, it is a scary horror movie with a lot of dread and even some jump scares. But more than that, it is a tale of love and obsession and a Gothic romance. The other central thing that is very different from other versions is that over the years, vampires have become less and less and less scary, climaxing with Edward Cullen (‘Twilight’) and in order to make the vampire in the film scary again, I turned to folklore that was written about and by people who believe that vampires were real and were terrified of them and these folk vampires are walking undead, putrid corpses. So, then I asked myself, “What would a dead Transylvanian nobleman actually look like” and thus we created what Bill Skarsgård’s vampire is in this film.
MF: Did you only take inspiration from the original ‘Nosferatu’, or did you also draw from the ‘Dracula’ novel and other interpretations of the character?
RE: I mean, it’s everything. It’s very much the history of vampire films in general, but I’m inspired by all kinds of Gothic literature and Edgar Allan Poe, black and white Gothic movies from the 1930s to the 1960s, and art house Polish movies from the ’70s. I mean, the influences are massive. Even Mel Brooks‘ ‘Dracula: Dead and Loving’. It was helpful to see what are the mistakes that every Dracula movie has. That parody points them out, so you know not to make those mistakes.
Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
MF: Can you talk about Bill Skarsgård’s performance and the specific way you wanted Count Orlok to look in the film?
RE: I mean, Bill’s incredibly transformative as Count Orlok. There’s no trace of Bill Skarsgård in the movie. He worked with an opera singer to lower his voice an octave. He has this incredibly low, powerful voice that if you’ve heard Bill speak, Bill speaks in a tenor voice like mine, and you would assume that we digitally manipulated it. But no, Bill trained and that is his performance and the prosthetics that took six hours to apply and then his utter transformation for Bill to disappear and the darkness to take over and him to become Count Orlok is quite impressive.
MF: Can you talk about your use of practical vs. visual effect in the film?
RE: There are certainly plenty of visual effects in the movie, but I try to do as many things practically as possible and, the things that you might expect to be visual effects, those are the things that I particularly would like to do practically. All of Bill’s makeup is done practically. There are thousands and thousands of rats in the film and the thousands of rats that would be in the foreground of the shot are real. The wolves are real. We built over 60 sets, including a massive backlog set of a northern German town.
MF: Can you also talk about the production design and the specific look of the film?
RE: Yeah, I mean, the reality of these sets is quite shocking. We talk about the finishes in the movie industry and when you’re in the middle of Orlok’s Great Hall in the castle, even without the lighting, it looks completely real. It’s wild.
Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release. Photo: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
MF: What was it like working with Lily-Rose Depp, and can you talk about her performance and her character’s descent into madness?
RE: Lily-Rose Depp’s performance is quite jaw-dropping, and so amazing. When I first met with her, I felt that she just understood the character so well and then she did this incredibly powerful audition that left me and the casting director and even the videographer who didn’t have anything invested in it in tears. But Ellen’s character has a sort of knowledge, a sort of insight into the dark realm, another realm, and she’s dealing with the demons that are inside of her and this vampire that’s after her. She does this incredible body work where she sometimes is having seizures and sometimes having, going through these wild acts of possession. She worked tirelessly with a movement coach on doing all these incredible body movements that also help these shocking emotions to arise. But again, the stuff that she does with her body, you would think would be CG manipulated or we would be using wire work, but it’s all her. She gives a tremendous performance.
MF: This is the third movie in a row you’ve made with Willem Dafoe. What do you like about working with him and is he your lucky charm at this point?
RE: I mean, Willem Dafoe is a legend. He’s one of the greatest actors of all time and I feel so joyful and thankful and humbled that Willem likes to work with me and keeps coming back. But obviously, he has this power and a sense of humor and a fire about him that makes all his roles so compelling. Here, as a slightly crazed vampire hunter occultist, it’s particularly enjoyable.
Willem Dafoe stars as Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz in director Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release. Photo: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
MF: All your films are period pieces. What do you like about making those types of movies and do you ever see yourself making a modern set film?
RE: Well, it’s more fun for me to do the research and to create these worlds. I live in a world of cell phones and toilets and dishwashers. I don’t need to make movies about it. It’s boring. How cool is it that I am dreaming about a castle for 10 years and then I get to stand inside the castle of my imagination? That is so much cooler than shooting a scene in a men’s room with someone looking at their cell phone.
MF: Finally, this is a movie you’ve wanted to make for a while, how does it feel now that you’ve accomplished that and what have you learned from this experience?
RE: I’m proud of what me and all my collaborators were able to accomplish. I’ve been working with the same creative heads of department for years and we’ve become further extensions of each, and we challenge each other, and we grow together. After so long, it’s not just my vision that we’ve articulated, but a collective vision and that is wonderful. But you also feel a little vulnerable because when it’s something that is this important to you, that’s kind of a strange feeling. But I’m eager for audiences to come to movie theaters and get transported into this world and enjoy ‘Nosferatu’, hopefully.
“Succumb to the darkness.”
Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its… Read the Plot
What is the plot of ‘Nosferatu’?
Set in 1838 in Germany, Nosferatu follows the obsession between a haunted young woman, Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rise Depp), and the ancient Transylvanian vampire stalking her, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), leading to untold horror.
Who is in the cast of ‘Nosferatu’?
- Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok
- Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter
- Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Friedrich Harding
- Emma Corrin as Anna Harding
- Willem Dafoe as Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz
- Ralph Ineson as Dr. Wilhelm Siever
- Simon McBurney as Herr Knock
Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release. Photo: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
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