‘Nosferatu’ Remake Moving Forward with Anya Taylor-Joy Attached

Nosferatu

Nosferatu has resurrected and is craving for blood.

 

Robert Eggers has been a filmmaker to watch out for ever since The Witch was conjured in 2015. His debut feature-length film unnerved and scared audiences all around the world; its atmosphere was incredibly thick, Eggers’ direction was moody, and the script perfectly captured the idea of being afraid of something that cannot be seen and the demons that we make up in order to deal with uncomfortable issues. Then, in 2019 (early 2020 for some countries), he knocked it out of the park again with The Lighthouse, a black & white film which is hard to describe with words, and shines with amazing performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.

 

Eggers’ original plan was to direct Nosferatu right after The Lighthouse, but the tentative project hit some bumps and fell to the side. That doesn’t mean Eggers himself stumbled, as he promptly readied and shot The Northman, “an epic revenge thriller that explores how far a Viking prince will go to seek justice for his murdered father.” His next film is a big departure from the horror genre, but it’ll be interesting to see how he brings his “dark visions” to a different type of story while also toying with a bigger scope.

 

While talking to the newspaper Los Angeles Times, young actress Anya Taylor-Joy, who exploded thanks to The Witch and has quickly become one of the most desired faces in Hollywood, confirmed the Nosferatu remake has returned from the dead. And she’ll star in it after she’s done with a fair amount of work, such as starring in George Miller’s next Mad Max film, where she’ll play a younger version of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. Little more is known at this point about Eggers’ approach to remaking the well-known horror film, crafted by German director F.W. Murnau and screenwriter Henrik Galeen in 1922.

 

The Queen's Gambit

 

If I had to guess, I’d say Taylor-Joy will probably play Ellen, the wife of a estate agent who is tasked with selling a house to Count Orlok — a vampire heavily based on Dracula as described in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, much like the film as a whole. Most hardcore film enthusiasts have rejected the idea of remaking Nosferatu for decades, but Robert Eggers is so amazingly good at capturing old-fashioned somber atmospheres that he might be the ideal filmmaker for the job. Furthermore, Nosferatu is a passion project of his, and not something put in development by a money-hungry studio before looking for a director. Let’s hope it stays on its course and gets somewhere… eventually.