Robert Eggers reflects on challenging ‘Nosferatu’ project: “I’m trying to go beyond what I’m capable of”
With The Witch, The Lighthouse and the Viking epic The Northman under his belt already, 39-year-old filmmaker Robert Eggers has set his sights on something even more spectacular and “difficult” for his forthcoming Nosferatu reprise.
Often visiting bleak stories set in oppressive environments, Eggers is no stranger to filming in adverse weather conditions and challenging landscapes, adding fog and filters for the cherry on top. In a new interview with Empire, the director revealed that his forthcoming horror Nosferatu is the most challenging project yet.
“I’m trying to go beyond what I’m capable of,” Eggers said of the vampire tale. “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,” he added. The original version of Nosferatu was directed by German filmmaker F. W. Murnau and released in 1922.
“I’m so happy to have made The Northman first and to have learned what I learned,” Eggers added. “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.”
Eggers is reunited with Willem Dafoe in the new project and suggested that he’s extremely satisfied with their established bond, both professionally and otherwise. “Willem’s up for anything, and he’ll cut his arm off for the scene,” Eggers said while reflecting on his 2019 movie, The Lighthouse.
“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,” Eggers added.
Watch the trailer for the original Nosferatu below.
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