Robert Eggers, Why Nosferatu Is a Great Christmas Movie

This Christmas, there are plenty of options at your local movie theater. There are lions, the hedgehogwitches, demigodsand more. But the most beautiful choice, the sexiest choice is a vampire. this week, directed by Robert Eggers releases NosferatuThe long-awaited, highly-anticipated film inspired by FW Murnau’s iconic 1922 film. Bill Skarsgård plays the failed Count Orlok. into whom it crawls the lives of newlyweds Thomas and Ellen (Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp).

It’s a dark, atmospheric, but entertaining film from a director who has a very well-earned reputation, even with only three films. with WitchLighthouseand The northern manEggers has established himself as a meticulous, visual director with a flair for the historical and the gothic. Nosferatu maybe his most “Eggers” movie, but it also comes out at Christmas, a very commercial time.

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

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Germain Lussier, io9: I love your movies because they’re not only fun, but also very meticulous, beautiful, and often weird. I wonder if you struggle between artistic impulses and commercial opportunities at any point in the process?

Robert Eggers: Yes, from the beginning this film was intended to be my most “accessible film”. You may or may not know this, but the main creative producer of this is Chris Columbus Home Alone and Harry Potter fame. And Chris has been a mentor to me since we met in post-production Witch. But he knows that we’re very different filmmakers, and that’s part of how we get along creatively, and I think it’s a great fit. And Jarin Blaschke, my DP and I, we carefully storyboard the films. Well, we work with a storyboard artist, but we carefully plan all the shots. And Chris would flip through the storyboards, look at them all, and occasionally say, “Where’s that story beat in your script? That’s what you need here.” And Chris, being a master of orthodox Hollywood storytelling, was often an antidote to me and Jarin’s bold tendencies to tell this story the way I wanted it to be, because he wanted to make it the best Robert Eggers movie it could be. was there. , not for Chris Columbus. I also had incredible support from Focus Features, who gave me a lot of creative control with this film.

io9: I think we’re getting a hint that it’s supposed to be more commercial, because when the movie was announced a year ago, Focus said, “Robert Eggers, NosferatuIt’s coming out on Christmas Day.” And that’s always a big thing, a Christmas release. Have you been part of that conversation, and does a major release date like that change your mind at all?

Egg: Well, I mean I was part of the conversation, but ultimately it was the date they offered me and I was very excited to accept it. Obviously, the movie takes place in the middle of Christmas time, and there’s a Christmas tree, there’s talk of Christmas, and there’s a scene where “O Tannenbaum” is played, which was originally played as a Mozart piece. , and when I got the Christmas release date, I said, “Let’s put ‘That Tannenbaum’ in there.”

io9: This is beautiful. Willem Dafoe is starring in the film you worked on before. Obviously, she’s incredible, but she also has some history with being in this world Shadow of the Vampire. Have you discussed this before, and how much did those conversations influence this film in general?

Eggs: I love that movie, and it’s a great movie, but they’re kind of unrelated. But obviously, we both know that it’s great for the audience members who know they’re being hunted in this movie.

io9: Is there anything you’re proud of or were able to accomplish in this film that was particularly challenging, either technically or in terms of story and tone?

Egg: I mean, there’s a lot. One thing, for me personally, I don’t know how the audience will experience it, but it seems to me that the “owners” in this film are a little more heavy and invisible. That’s my impression, maybe I’m wrong. I am proud of the atmosphere of the cemetery. It was something I really, really, really wanted. One of the very few things that the Focus had up its sleeve was that I never shoot in overcast weather because we stand around waiting for cloud cover and that can be very stressful. But the cemetery was an example of the necessity of this way of working. And the Transylvanian village scene was incredibly complex for acting, costuming and blocking. There are some actors, mostly non-actors, some professional dancers, and everyone from a different country speaking a different language. It was very complicated, but I liked how it turned out.

io9: That’s great. I also know you love to research and that plays a big part in all your films. How deeply did you go into the Count’s story, both for yourself and for Bill? Do you know how and when he changed, how he developed his powers, or is that kind of stuff over?

Eggs: No, no. I wrote a novel trying to make this story my own—this story that’s been told over and over—trying to break the script, and the novella had a lot of backstories to learn about the various characters. And the epilogue was a long story of Orlok, which I gave to Bill as part of the preparation. It will never be shared because the secret of the mystery is better for the audience, but it was important for Bill to have this history.

io9: So you never thought of putting it up?

Egg: No, I mean, the mystery is important to some degree, even if it reveals things that aren’t revealed in this Murnau film.

io9: This is a story you’ve wanted to tell for a long time and even came close at one point. Now, what about this version that is different from the version you make later Witch or earlier in your career?

Egg: You know, once I wrote that novella and once I broke the script, my intentions haven’t really changed. The script got tighter and more refined, but the “vision” of what the film was going to be didn’t change. But I am very happy. I’ve grown a lot as a person and certainly as a filmmaker. My collaboration with my creative director became more fluid and we reached out to each other more. And I ended up with this absolutely fantastic cast.

io9: Oh, the fantastic cast is something that makes all vampire movies unique. It’s also one of those genres where, you know, we’ve got vampire comedies, we’ve got vampire horror, we’ve got vampire dramas, we’ve got everything. What is it about the genre that makes it so flexible and what do you love about it?

Egg: Yeah, I mean how flexible a vampire is and there’s room for Ann Rice and room for Blade and room for Count Chocula and all that. But I get asked this question a lot, but the best I can think of is sex and death. It is a combination of sex and death.

io9: Last thing, recently Focus, Discovered the $20,000 Nosferatu coffin bedI’m sure you know. do you have do you want one What do you say to someone who buys one? What are your thoughts?

Egg: Um. (Laughs, thinks, stops). “Congratulations.”

io9: (Laughs) Right. Well, congratulations sir, fantastic, beautiful movie.

Nosferatu In theaters December 25.

Want more io9 news? Check when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Warsand Star Trek releases, why next The DC Universe in Film and TVand everything you need to know about its future Doctor Who.