Robert Eggers Is Pushing Himself With His Nosferatu Remake

Making The Northman helped Robert Eggers prepare for his long-awaited remake of the classic vampire horror movie.

For his long-awaited Nosferatu remake, filmmaker Robert Eggers said that he’s “trying to go beyond what I’m capable of.” Eggers’ first film was The VVitch: A New-England Folktale, which he then followed up with The Lighthouse and The Northman. Nosferatu will be Eggers first film that doesn’t start with “The”, and one that he’s been hoping to make for a long time. Eggers said in an interview with Empire:

“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. I spent the past several days working only with Russian sailors on a boat.”

As a writer and director, Eggers is known for making period pieces that have a keen eye towards historical detail, including period accurate dialogue. His previous film, The Northman, was a Viking epic starring Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth, a Viking prince on a quest for revenge.That film saw Eggers working on a scale he had never done before. That led to its own set of complications, which Vulture went over in deph. The Northman also helped prepare Eggers for his work on Nosferatu.

“I’m so happy to have made The Northman first and to have learned what I learned. 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.”

Nosferatu’s Cast Will Include Familiar Faces

The cast of Nosferatu will see some familiar faces from Eggers’ previous work. Such as Willem Dafoe, who’ll play Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz. In The Lighthouse, he played Thomas Wake, a lighthouse keeper who develops an interesting dynamic with co-worker Ephraim Winslow (Robert Patterson). He was also in The Northman as Heimir the Fool, whose court position is all in the name.

“Willem’s up for anything and he’ll cut his arm off for the scene. He is a fucking pleasure to work with: he was in The Northman, he was in [the upcoming] Nosferatu, I hope I never made a movie without him.”

Another actor returning to work with Eggers is Ralph Ineson, who’ll play Dr. Wilhelm Sievers. Previously, Ineson was in Egger’s very first film, The VVitch as family patriarch William, whose family has to deal with a witch. He was also in The Northman, as a sea captain named Captain Volodymyr.

A recurring collaborator of Eggers who will notably not be making an appearance is Anya Taylor-Joy, who was originally cast in the lead role alongside Harry Styles. Taylor-Joy previously made her film debut in The VVitch, where she played Thomasin, William’s daughter. She was also in The Northman, where she played an enslaved woman named Olga of the Birch Forest, who aids the main character.