Robert Egger’s long in development nosferatu remake has taken a giant leap forward with news that the Norman Helmer’s passion project is looking for Bill Skarsgard in the titular role, with Lily-Rose Depp joining him as the female lead. From DeadlineSkarsgard is already attached to the Focus Features film, while Depp is in talks at this stage, and as previously reported, Eggers will both direct and write the film.
This isn’t the first time Eggers has nearly succeeded in making the film, after several years of trying to get things going and coming close in 2019 when Harry Styles and Anya Taylor-Joy were tapped for the lead roles. when the movie was released. Studio 8. However, the studio decided to put the film on hold while it settled budget and scheduling issues, which is when Eggers became attached to the Norman and his passion project was shelved.
While the Norman failed to make a big impact at the box office when it premiered earlier this year, but as the film received some solid reviews, Eggers didn’t take long to set it up. nosferatu as his next project. When things came together, the director was quick to get Skarsgard on board to avoid scheduling conflicts, as the actor had been linked to the project before.
Nosferatu has a famously infamous history
nosferatu was originally released in 1922 as a silent film by German director FW Murnau, starring Max Shrek as the titular vampire. The film itself has influenced many modern vampire movies, including the appearance of Kurt Barlow in Stephen King’s 1979 version. Salem’s Lotbut it was his own influence that gave the film a lot of trouble and saw it almost completely wiped out of history.
The story of nosferatu is clearly the same as that of Bram Stoker’s iconic novel Draculaand though names, such as the vampire called Orlok instead of Dracula, and minor details were changed, nosferatu was essentially an unauthorized adaptation of Stoker’s story. For this reason, Stoker’s estate sued the makers of the film and received a court order that all copies of the film must be destroyed. However, despite this, a small handful of prints happened, which is why the film is still available to this day.
The film has already been remade once before, in Werner Herzogs Nosferatu the Vampire in 1979, who returned the vampire’s name to Dracula, and although Eggers has been working on his version since 2015, the writer/director himself at one point around 2019 wondered if it was worth making the film. He then said, “I don’t know. Could be nosferatu does not need to be made again, even though I spent so much time on it.”
It now looks like Eggers has come to the conclusion that the movie deserves a remake, and it’s piling up to be a potentially interesting movie. If it can recapture the atmosphere of the original film, and with Bill Skarsgard the perfect choice to bring Orlok to life, nosferatu will be a horror movie to look forward to for years to come.