Robert Eggers on Why Nosferatu Is a Great Twisted Christmas Movie

This Christmas, there are many options at your local cineplex. there are lions, Hedgehogswitch, demigodsAnd more. But the best choice, the sexiest choice, is the vampire. this week, Filmmaker Robert Eggers reveals NosferatuA long awaited, highly anticipated film inspired by FW Murnau’s iconic 1922 film. Bill Skarsgård stars as the sinister Count Orlok. That creeps his way The lives of newlyweds Thomas and Ellen (Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp).

It’s a dark, atmospheric, but entertaining film from a filmmaker who has built a very good reputation even with only three films under his belt. with The Witchthe lighthouseAnd NorthmanEggers has cemented himself as a subtle, visual filmmaker with a flair for the historical and gothic. Nosferatu Probably his most “eggers” film yet, but it’s also coming out at Christmas, a very commercial time.

io9 spoke with Eggers via video chat a few weeks ago, and that battle between art and product is where our conversation began.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Germaine Lussier, IO9: I love your films because they’re not only entertaining, but also very subtle, beautiful, and often weird. I wonder, at what point in the process are you wrestling between artistic passion and commercial viability?

Robert Eggers: Well, this film of Jatra was intended to be my most “searchable film”. Maybe you know it and maybe you don’t but its lead creative producer is Chris Columbus home alone And harry potter Fame and Chris have been a mentor to me since we met during post-production The Witch. But he knows we’re very different filmmakers and that’s why we get along creatively, and I think it’s a wonderful match. And Zarin Blaschke, my DP and I, we carefully storyboard the movies. Well, we work with a storyboard artist, but we carefully plan all the shots. And Chris was combing through the storyboards, looking at them very carefully, and sometimes saying, “Where’s this story bit in your script? You need it here.” And Chris, being a master of Hollywood orthodox storytelling has often been like an antidote to me and Zarin’s artistic inclination to tell this story the way I wanted it to, because he was there to make it the best Robert Eggers movie ever. , Chris Columbus-It’s not. But also, with this film, I had incredible support from Focus Properties, who gave me a lot of creative control.

io9: And I think we got a hint that it was supposed to be more commercial because when the film was announced a year ago, the focus was “Robert Eggers, NosferatuComing out Christmas Day.” And that’s always kind of a big deal, a Christmas release. Were you part of that conversation and does a prime release date like that change your thinking at all?

Eggs: Yeah, I mean, I was part of the conversation, but eventually that date was brought up to me, and I embraced it with a lot of excitement. Obviously the film takes place, at the midpoint, during Christmas, and there’s a Christmas tree, and there’s a conversation about Christmas, and there’s a scene where there’s a music box playing “O Tannenbaum,” and it basically sounded like a Mozart piece. , and when we got the Christmas release date, I was like, “Let’s put ‘O Tannenbaum’ in there.”

io9: That’s awesome. Now, Willem Dafoe is in a film that you worked on before Obviously he’s incredible but he also has some history with this world Shadow of the Vampire. Have you had that discussion before and how much of that conversation came up in this movie?

the egg: I love that film, and it’s a great film, but they’re kind of unrelated. But obviously, we both recognize that it’s great for those in the audience who know he’s hunting himself in this movie.

io9: Was there anything you were able to accomplish in this film that you were particularly proud of, or was it particularly difficult, either technically in terms of story and tone?

Eggs: I mean, there’s a lot. One thing, for me personally, I don’t know how the audience will feel about it, but I think that in the long run, the “owners” of this film are a little less heavy-handed and a little more invisible. That’s my guess, maybe I’m wrong. I am very proud of the environment of the cemetery. That’s something I really, really, really wanted. One of the few things that Focus was wringing their hands about was my insistence on not shooting in anything but dark weather because we’re waiting for cloud cover and that can be very exciting. But the cemetery was an example of the necessity of that work. And the Transylvanian village scene was incredibly complicated to cast and costume and block. There are some actors, mostly non-actors, some professional dancers, and everyone is speaking a different language from a different country. It was very complicated, but I like how it turned out.

io9: That’s great. I also know that you love to do research and that plays a big role in all your films. How deeply did you dive into the backstory of the count for yourself and Bill? Do you know how and when he changed, how he developed his powers, or is this thing redundant?

the egg: No, no. To try to make this story my own – this story has been told many times – I wrote a novel when trying to break the script and have a lot of backstories to learn about different characters in the novel. And the epilogue was a long backstory on Worlok that I gave Bill as part of his preparation. It will never be shared because the mystery is better for the audience, but it was important for Bill to have that history.

io9: So didn’t think about doing it at all?

Eggs: No, I mean, in a Murnau film these things aren’t fleshed out as much, a certain degree of mystery is important.

io9: This is a story you’ve wanted to tell for a long time and even came close at some point. Now this version is different from the version you create later The Witch Or earlier in your career?

Eggs: You know, once I wrote that novel and once I broke that script, my intentions didn’t really change. The script has become tighter and more refined, but my “vision” for what the movie will be hasn’t changed. But I’m glad it took a long time. I have grown a lot as a person, certainly as a filmmaker. My collaboration with the creative heads of my departments has become more fluid and we are expanding each other more. And also I ended up with this absolutely fantastic cast.

io9: Oh a great cast, which is something that makes all vampire movies unique. It’s one of those genres that, you know, we have vampire comedies, we have vampire horror, we have vampire drama, we have everything. What is it about the genre that makes it so flexible and what do you love about it?

Eggs: Yeah, I mean, how flexible the vampire is and how there’s room for Anne Rice and room for Blade and room for Count Chocolat and all that stuff. But I get asked this question a lot, but the best I can come up with is sex and death. It is a combination of sex and death.

io9: Last thing, focus recently, A $20,000 Nosferatu Coffin Bed RevealedWhich I’m sure you know. Do you have one? Do you want one? What would you say to someone who bought it? What are your thoughts?

Eggs: One. [Laughs, thinks, pauses]. “Congratulations.”

io9: [Laughs] exactly Well, congratulations, sir, for a fantastic, beautiful movie.

Nosferatu In theaters on December 25.

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