‘Nosferatu’ Director Reveals the Film’s Biggest Influence

Robert Eggers, the director of 2024’s notable vampire film Nosferatu, has revealed the influences that he took into account when writing and directing the modern revival of F.W. Murnau’s movie of the same name. Surprisingly, it is not a vampire film.

Eggers spoke to Variety about all things Nosferatu, and the director addressed the film’s sexual element, which has been present in all Nosferatu adaptations, albeit by the standards of every period they were made in. 1922, Murnau had to conceal the steamy content cleverly. In 1979, Werner Herzog had to do something similar with his version called Nosferatu the Vampyre.

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In the 2024 version, Eggers decided to follow his biggest influence on Nosferatu in order to convince the audience to use their imagination. This influence was Jack Clayton’s superb version of The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents. Per Eggers’ claims:

“One of the biggest cinematic influences on this film is Jack Clayon’s The Innocents, in which all of this sexual stuff is left to the imagination. And it just burns in your imagination. It’s so powerful, but I’ve seen versions of The Turn of the Screw where they do the sexuality explicitly, and it really doesn’t work. So certainly we were taking a chance in bringing that stuff to the forefront.

But I think part of what perhaps makes it work the way that it does is that the story is told entirely through the eyes of Ellen, the female protagonist. That is going to allow for greater potential for emotional and psychological complexity because you’re centering around this woman who’s a somnambulist.”

One of the biggest displays of Gothic horror, The Innocents, starred Deborah Kerr as Miss Giddens, a governess hired to care for some creepy children at Bly Manor. The film has been cited as one of the best supernatural horror movies of all time, and it’s often been compared to The Haunting, Robert Wise’s notable haunted house film of 1963.

You Would Never Guess Who Supported Eggers When Making Such a Bleak Vampire Film

The director also spoke about working with his creative producer, a Hollywood legend known for his films Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Yes, we also scratched our heads when we found out Chris Columbus was entering horror territory and fully backing a film like Nosferatu. Nevertheless, Eggers was very vocal about Columbus’ contribution to the film:

“One of the coolest things was that the creative producer was Chris Columbus. Obviously, we seem like a strange match. But having one of the masters of orthodox Hollywood storytelling at my side, by the monitor every single day, was so immensely helpful. We make such different films and he was not trying to Chris Columbus-ify Nosferatu — he was trying to make this the best Robert Eggers movie it could be.

But his thinking would be an antidote at times to me and my cinematographer Jarin Blaschke’s arty-farty inclinations. He was a good safety net to say, ‘Are you telling the story as clearly as possible at this moment?’ Most of that kind of conversation happened in prep when he was looking at the storyboards. If I had it my way, Chris would produce all of my films.”

Eggers and Columbus’ relationship goes way back. It all started when Eggers was making The Witch, and he ran out of money. Luckily, Chris’ daughter, Eleanor, was a fan, and she convinced her father they had to help the director finish the scary feature. Eggers says: “We’re doing post-production with Monopoly money, and Chris and his daughter Eleanor’s company, Maiden Voyage, was initially set up to help out first- and second-time filmmakers. Eleanor was a fan of the script of The Witch and wanted to potentially make the movie. But Chris wasn’t really into it initially, but when they saw a cut of the movie, he changed his mind. And so they helped finish the film, and that’s when I first met Chris, and he’s been a mentor ever since.“

In the Variety piece, Eggers also reveals that, while he’s been busy making Nosferatu, he has had time to see a few movies. When asked what his favorite horror film of 2024 was, he replied with one that is surely on everyone’s list of the best of the year: “I really like The Substance. It had a consistent, clear, specific vision and was very well-executed. As a filmmaker, you can’t help but admire that and champion it.”

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Release Date

December 25, 2024

Runtime

2h 12m

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