Robert Eggers, the modern master of gothic horror, is at long last bringing his deep-and-dark passion project to theaters this, uh, Christmas!
The notion of remaking an all-time classic like F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” might sound utterly mad, but this kind of risk-taking is what we’ve come to expect from the man who gave us “The Witch,” “The Lighthouse” and “The Northman.” Eggers is a conjurer. He can tell a good, tight story, but you go to his movies to be seduced by whatever spell he’s casting. And when it comes to “Nosferatu,” judging from the spooky trailer it looks like we’ll be getting a big ol’ dollop of dread.
Authenticity is a key to Eggers approach, which is why he loves to shoot out in the elements as much as possible. With “Nosferatu,” he’s taking this commitment to tactile cinema further than many filmmakers have gone before — specifically, those making Dracula movies. When you think of the great vampire films — e.g. Tod Browning’s “Dracula,” Terrence Fisher’s 1958 “Dracula” for Hammer, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” – you think of sumptuous castle sets filled with cobwebs and creepy-crawlies. This is what’s on Eggers’ mind, too, only scratch the “sets” part.
Eggers booked a trip to Transylvania for Nosferatu
In the latest issue of Empire magazine, Eggers revealed that he shot second unit footage for “Nosferatu” in Transylvania. Specifically, Hunedoara Castle (aka Corvin Castle, where legend has it that Vlad the Impaler was once held prisoner) was used for the wide shots of Count Orlok’s home. If Eggers’d had his druthers, he would have done much more filming on Dracula’s home turf. As he told Empire:
“We wanted to shoot Transylvania for Transylvania, but at the end, it wasn’t financially feasible. So we shot some plates. Most of Transylvania [in the film] is the Czech Republic, but the most epic landscapes are actually Transylvania, including that castle.”
This is notable because, out of 80-plus Dracula movies in the history of cinema, only a handful (including “Dracula II: Ascension,” “Dracula III: Legacy,” “Dracula 2012” and “Story of My Death”) have shot in the count’s home country. No disrespect to those movies, but this Universal production is easily the biggest Dracula flick to set foot in Transylvania.
One other nifty aspect of the film is that Eggers, quite by accident, shot at the Czech Republic’s Pernštejn Castle – the same castle seen in Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake “Nosferatu the Vampyre.” Eggers swears to Empire he didn’t do this intentionally: “I’d been consciously not watching that film, so it didn’t occur to me.” Fortunately, he found that the areas he’d selected to shoot in were different than those chosen by Herzog. “So we were able to use the Herzog castle without using the Herzog castle,” he said. “Which was kind of awesome.”
You’ll get your taste of Transylvania on December 25, 2024, when “Nosferatu” opens wide theatrically.
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