Credit: Nosferatu
Who’s ready for an update on Nosferatu?
In late September, Deadline first reported that Robert Eggers (The Northman, The Lighthouse) would adapt the classic film to give a more gothic take, “In the new reimagining, the pic is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvania vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.”
Now, Deadline has updated that Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgard have joined the horror feature. Depp will play the haunted woman and Skarsgard the Transylvanian vampire. The feature made its debut all the way back in 1922, with Nosferatu celebrating 100 years back in March.
Originally considered a copycat of Bram Stroker’s Dracula, Nosferatu is considered one of the original and most important horror films of all time. It’s the very first vampire film, that highlights German Expression and the achievement of special effects at such an early age. There have been several different versions of the films thus far with the 1979 feature being the most notable.
Credit: It
Eggers is the perfect choice for the remake as his style highly compliments the character. Eggers is no stranger to horror, with the writer-director gaining notoriety thanks to The Witch. The filmmaker’s slow-burn approach is notable in every one of his films, though Eggers knows how to keep the story compelling and characters engaging.
The filmmaker is coming off of The Northman, a highly regarded spectacle about a Viking seeking vengeance against the man responsible for the murder of his father. The writer/director has been seeking to do a Nosferatu remake for some time now, with Eggers explaining in an interview with Bloody Disgusting why he’s drawn to the classic story:
“I mean, that movie [Nosferatu] is really important to me for many reasons, but I think Nosferatu is closer to the folk vampire. The vampire played by Max Schreck is a combination of the folk vampire, of the literary vampire that actually has its roots in England before Germany, and also [has roots in] Albin Grau, the producer/production designer’s occultist theories on vampires.”
Credit: The Idol
“So he’s not a traditional folk vampire but it’s much closer to that than Stoker, even though obviously Stoker is using a lot of folklore that he’s researched to create his vampire,” Eggers continues. “But Dracula is finally much more an extension of the literary vampire that was started by John Polidori, based on Byron.” It’s a great thing that Eggers is such a fan of the story as it’ll likely turn out pretty well given his incredible knowledge about Nosferatu. Thus far, the writer/director hasn’t failed to impress critics yet, as The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman all have over 80% on rotten tomatoes.
Bill Skarsgard is also no stranger to the world of horror, as the veteran actor was Pennywise in the update of Stephen King’s It and It: Part Two. The remake of the popular (and controversial) books was a massive win with both fans and critics; however, it was also a huge box office success as It made a strong $701. 8 million worldwide.
This is an incredible number for an R-Rated horror feature. It currently holds the number one spot as the top-grossing horror film of all time. It: Chapter Two didn’t exactly fare so well, as the sequel had more of a mixed reaction and only garnered nearly $469 worldwide. This is still an amazing number, but considering that the first film made over $700 million, it’s a disappointment since that means over $250 million weren’t interested in seeing the final chapter.
Still, the Skarsgard version of Pennywise was highly praised, so his playing a vampire should produce entertaining results. At the moment, a release date hasn’t been confirmed.
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