Modern auteur filmmaker Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) is gearing up for his cinematic take on the classic film, Nosferatu, and it looks like he has his two stars in mind for the project. Deadline reports that actor Bill Skarsgård (Barbarian, It, Deadpool 2) is attached to play the titular vampire, and actress Lily-Rose Depp is in negotiations to co-star in the film.
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ACTORS TAPPED FOR ROBERT EGGERS’ NOSFERATU REMAKE
The upcoming project is set up at Focus Features, which also produced Eggers’ The Northman. Eggers is directing the film from a script he wrote. The film is being produced by Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Eggers, Chris Columbus, and Eleanor Columbus.
The new film will be a reimagining of the 100-year-old cinematic classic directed by F.W. Murnau. It will be a gothic tale of obsession, as a young woman (Depp) is haunted by an ancient Transylvanian vampire (Skarsgård) in 19th century Germany. Focus Features didn’t comment on the news regarding the project.
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Nosferatu has been a passion project that Eggers has pursued for a number of years. It nearly came together several years ago at Studio 8, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Harry Styles. However, the project was paused so the studio could figure out a budget and lineup talent schedules. Eggers temporarily moved away from the project to film his Viking epic, The Northman, which was released earlier this year.
After completing The Northman, Eggers once again returned to Nosferatu, and now it appears to finally be getting off the ground. He lined it up as his next directing gig and started scouting and meeting with actors for casting.
Deadline reports that Skarsgård has been loosely attached to Eggers’ take on Nosferatu in the vampire role, Graf Orlock portrayed by Max Schrek in the 1922 original film, for a while. He was already the planned lead when Eggers was previously developing the project with Taylor-Joy and Styles in the leads. He reportedly managed to lock down Skarsgård before his schedule filled up.
Unfortunately, Taylor-Joy, who has become a busy and in-demand actress, couldn’t fit the project into her schedule. This created an opening for the film’s female lead. According to the report, Lily-Rose Depp (Voyagers), the daughter of Johnny Depp, has emerged as the top choice for Eggers in the role of the female lead for the picture.
Skarsgård recently appeared in the hit horror movie, Barbarian, released last month. Next year, he will appear in the Netflix thriller Boy Kills and John Wick: Chapter 4. He is also expected to star in a big-screen remake of The Crow directed by Rupert Sanders.
Eggers has created some visceral, creepy horror pictures such as The Witch and The Lighthouse. The filmmaker at least fulfilling his dream to work on a reimagining of the cinematic classic Nosferatu is exciting news, not to mention the casting of Skarsgård in the titular role. Considering his work as Pennywise in Stephen King’s It, this could be an all-time great performance from Skarsgård. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with for his own take on Graf Orlock.
What do you think of the news? Do you like this casting for Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu reimagining? Would you have rather Eggers waited for his frequent collaborator Anya Taylor-Joy instead? Let us know what you think on the subject on our official Twitter account.
SOURCE: Deadline
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