Robert Eggers’ History With ‘Nosferatu’ Goes Back Further Than You Think Find help us

2024 has been a massive year for long-awaited movies. From Deadpool & Wolverine to Wicked, fans have certainly experienced a lot of payoffs on the big screen this year. This is especially true for director Robert Eggers, thanks to his highly anticipated remake of Nosferatu. Cinema has long been a playground for vampires, but for Eggers, bringing the horror icon back to the screen has been a passion that has not only fueled his career, and pre-dates even his earliest work. Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu has already created quite a buzz amongst audiences and critics alike. But long before Eggers coaxed Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård into the darkness, he was a massive fan of the infamous film. According to Deadline, Eggers first came across Nosferatu at the young age of nine. Eggers got his hands on a grainy bootleg and was quickly enamored by Max Shreck’s Count Orlok.

Eggers Adapted ‘Nosferatu’ While in High School

“Max Schreck’s performance, the makeup that he designed, his uncanny movements,” Eggers explained. “The VHS was made from a degraded 16mm print, so you don’t see the bald cap and the grease paint, and sometimes his irises look like cat eyes. It doesn’t look like that in the restored version. But in what I saw, it had kind of more realism, because of the degraded quality that I was watching.” Eggers’ fascination with German Expressionism began with that bootleg, and inspired him to put his own spin on the story at a young age.

Per Deadline, Eggers’ first attempt at adapting Nosferatu came as a high school student. Eggers collaborated with a classmate to write a stage adaptation of the film. The staging gave Eggers the chance to play Count Orlok. Eggers’ efforts were met with quite a bit of buzz. The production captured the attention of artistic director, Edouard Langlois, who invited Eggers to bring the play to Langlois’ Edwin Booth Theatre. The experience would not only go on to inspire Eggers’ desire to direct—it inspired his yearning to remake Nosferatu for the big screen.

Eggers left quite an impression on audiences with his terrifying feature film debut, The Witch. In the wake of its 2015 debut, Eggers announced that a Nosferatu remake would be his next picture. However, actually making the film alluded for a while. Post-production on Eggers’ The Northman derailed it, once, as well as a slew of other delays. Eggers joked that original Nosferatu director, F.W. Murnau’s “ghost is telling me to fuck off.” But just when Eggers was ready to give up, opportunity presented itself. He approached Focus Features, who were enthusiastic about the idea based on the pitch alone.

Eggers’ lifelong relationship with Nosferatu truly proved integral to his creative journey. His pursuit of the material gave audiences one of the finest modern directors the genre has ever had. And, now, as audiences prepare to succumb to the film’s darkness, the screen’s most infamous vampire will once again haunt moviegoers for generations to come.

Nosferatu is now playing in theaters.

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