*“Nosferatu” stands as a cornerstone of horror cinema, its narrative deeply rooted in the genre’s history. Director Robert Eggers’ haunting reimagining for Focus Features is a gothic tale of obsession between a tormented young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her.
The film is a near-lifelong dream project for Eggers, who fell in love with F.W. Murnau’s 1922 movie “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror as a child.” The filmmaker said in a statement via the studio, “In many ways, my adaptation of Nosferatu is my most personal film. A story, not engendered by me, but one that I have lived with, within, and dreamed about since childhood. I often felt I had the same un-jaded creative spark of a first time filmmaker when finally making the film because of the years of thought I have put into it,” Eggers shared.
“I feel more fortunate than ever to have had the chance to make it with my trusted team of long-time collaborators. It is embedded with many of my own memories and personal experiences amplified and transposed to 1830s Baltic Germany,” he added.
Bill Skarsgård, who undergoes an astounding transformation to portray Orlok, also watched Murnau’s movie as a child.
“My dad loves movies, and he gave me an early tour of cinema history, and Nosferatu was one of the films we watched,” the actor said in a statement, noting that he found Eggers’ script to be immensely original and “one of the best scripts I had ever read.”
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We spoke with Willem Dafoe and Nicholas Hoult, the stars of “Nosferatu,” about stepping into the legacy of this classic story and bringing Eggers’ modern retelling to life. The film explores the obsessive bond between Ellen, a tormented young woman portrayed by Lily-Rose Depp, and the sinister vampire who fixates on her.
Dafoe takes on the role of Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, a pivotal figure working to unravel the dark mystery surrounding Ellen’s suffering, while Hoult embodies Thomas Hutter, whose fateful journey to Transylvania sets the macabre events into motion.
“He’s someone (who) believes that getting a promotion and making more money can solve all their issues. So he goes off on this real estate deal and unfortunately unleashes a plague of darkness on the world through that,” said Hoult.
Dafoe noted that Professor Van Frans is a “mystical academic” who’s been “ostracized” and “kicked out of the intellectual community where he used to teach,” he said.
“They call him in to see what’s wrong with Ellen. And the truth is, he’s the only one that really understands Ellen…he’s someone that appreciates that the lightness can’t happen without the darkness,” Dafoe continued. “Everybody’s in denial of it and he thinks that we have to accept that and we have to recognize it. So he doesn’t judge Ellen like the others do.”
“Nosferatu” reunites Dafoe and Eggers, who previosuly worked together on “The Lighthouse.” In a statement, the Oscar winner described the tale as a “love story.”
“The script is beautiful,” said Dafoe in a statement. “It really struck me as kind of a love story. I knew that my role was the role that Rob would play if he were an actor in this. That was a pleasure. He likes many of the things that Von Franz is versed in. Anytime I get to work with Rob I’m happy.”
The “Nosferatu” cast includes Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson and Simon McBurney. The film opens exclusively in theaters in the U.S. on Christmas Day.
Watch our full conversation with Willem and Nicholas via the clip below.
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