“I was not skilled enough”: The movie Robert Eggers “can’t watch”
There aren’t many filmmakers in cinema history to have made an undisputed classic that stands the test of time as an all-time great as their first very film. With the greatest of respect, Robert Eggers isn’t among that elite few, but he’s nonetheless three-for-three so far.
Haunting folk horror The Witch was a phenomenal work from an assured debut director, an eerie and evocative fable dripping in atmosphere and slow-burning tension, with a rich vein of thought-provoking resonance to mine. Is it going to be regarded as one of the best first films ever? Unlikely, but it’s undoubtedly one of the finest examples to come along in the last decade.
As mentioned, though, there’s no shame in not attaining legendary status right off the bat, when the list of first-timers who struck timeless gold right off the bat includes Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, and David Lynch’s Eraserhead to name a few. That’s a difficult club to enter, but by no means does that make The Witch any less stellar.
However, Eggers isn’t entirely convinced that his maiden foray behind the camera on a feature-length production was up to scratch, which is a reasonable sentiment for any director to have. After all, it’s a profession where the learning curve is infinite and unending, with each new movie beginning with the lessons learned from the last one, and so it carries on in perpetuity.
The Northman upped both the budget and the ante after the slick psychological terrors of The Lighthouse, leaving Eggers to remark to The Guardian that having worked with a major studio on a sprawling epic carrying an estimated budget of $70million which was subject to boardroom approval and test screenings, “I finally feel like I actually know how to make a movie now.”
His first collaboration with Anya Taylor-Joy on her breakout performance is a hugely accomplished, technically proficient, and exquisitely staged genre flick, but that doesn’t mean Eggers walked away with his head held high.
“Honestly, I can’t stand watching The Witch now,” he admitted. “It’s not that it’s bad, and the performances are great, but I was not skilled enough as a filmmaker to get what was in my brain on to the screen.” Despite his harsh self-assessment, Eggers conceded he “was able to do that” on The Lighthouse, but even after The Northman, he still harbours dreams “to do something with the scope and scale that I can actually get what’s in my imagination onto the screen.”
Nosferatu could well be that project, with Eggers’ fourth film having been a decade in the making, and set for release in December 2024. It’s a brave move to remake one of the most influential movies that’s ever been made regardless of genre, but based on his own comments and harsh appraisals of his filmography, it feels as though everything has been building towards this moment.
