The Witch Director Confirms Nosferatu Remake as Next Film

CBR

By Rob Cave

Published Nov 12, 2016

The filmmaker's passion project is still in the pipeline, despite being beaten to the multiplex by other recent remakes

Director Robert Eggers will be sticking with the supernatural for the follow-up to his 2015 feature debut "The Witch": The filmmaker has confirmed his next project is to be a remake of F. W. Murnau's 1922 horror classic "Nosferatu."

The filmmaker unveiled plans for the remake, set up at Studio 8, more than a year ago, but recently revealed further details about his history with the original on Indiewire's Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast.

For those unfamiliar with the story, "Nosferatu" was an unauthorized retelling of Bram Stoker's vampire tale "Dracula," with Count Orlok, played majestically by Max Schreck, as the lead villain. The similarity between the two stories prompted a lawsuit from Stoker's widow that led production company Prana Film to wind up its operations.

The original movie is now in the public domain, a fact that has ironically facilitated a number of remakes over the years. The most recent, directed by David Lee Fisher, was released earlier this year.

According to Eggers, his first attempt to remake the tale was a stage version. "When I was 17, I directed the senior play [of] 'Nosferatu,'" he said. "It was very expressionist. It was much more expressionist than the film is. It was ‘Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ style."

The director also disclosed that “‘Nosferatu’ has a very close, magical connection for me. Though if I were to make the movie 17-year-old Rob was going to make of ‘Nosferatu’ it would have been something between like ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ and ‘Sin City,’ whereas this is going to be the same approach as ‘The Witch,’ where [the setting of] 1830s Biedermeier Baltic Germany needs to be articulated in a way that seems real.”

Eggers' version of Nosferatu is in the early stages of development and does not yet have a release date, but those wishing to find out more about the director's work should seek out "The Witch," available on DVD, Blu-ray and various streaming services.