Nosferatu (2024 film)

Nosferatu is an upcoming American gothic horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers. It is a remake of the 1922 film of the same name, based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The film stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe.

Development on the film began in 2015, following the release of Eggers's The Witch. Eggers planned to make it his second film, describing it as a passion project, but eventually opted to delay production and go on to direct The Lighthouse and The Northman instead. Frequent collaborator Anya Taylor-Joy was attached to the project earlier, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Skarsgård and Depp were cast as leads in September 2022. Hoult joined the cast the following month, with the remaining cast confirmed in early 2023. Filming primarily took place in and around Prague between February and May 2023.

Nosferatu is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States by Focus Features on December 25, 2024.

Premise
"Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake."

Development
In July 2015, a remake of Nosferatu (1922) was announced with Robert Eggers writing and directing. The film was intended to be produced by Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen for Studio 8. In November 2016, Eggers expressed surprise that the Nosferatu remake was going to be his second film, saying, "It feels ugly and blasphemous and egomaniacal and disgusting for a filmmaker in my place to do Nosferatu next. I was really planning on waiting a while, but that's how fate shook out." During an interview with Den of Geek around the release of The Lighthouse (2019), Robert Eggers revealed that although he had dedicated a lot of time to bringing the iconic horror film into the 21st century, he didn't know when or if it would happen. Despite that, Eggers said, "Look, I spent so many years and so much time, just so much blood on it, yeah, it would be a real shame if it never happened".

Casting
In August 2017, Anya Taylor-Joy was cast. Years later, in early 2022, Eggers was asked if he and Taylor-Joy still communicated about the project, saying, "We definitely talk about it, and I don't know why it's been so hard to make happen." It was revealed in March 2022 that English singer Harry Styles was briefly attached to an undisclosed role in the film, but eventually dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

In September 2022, it was announced that Bill Skarsgård was set to star as the eponymous Nosferatu, Count Orlok, with Lily-Rose Depp cast to replace Taylor-Joy. Skarsgård had originally been offered the lead role of Thomas Hutter while Taylor-Joy was still attached to star before the project was stalled for a few years. In October 2022, Nicholas Hoult joined the cast. In January 2023, Willem Dafoe, who had previously portrayed Max Schreck/Count Orlok in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), joined the cast after having co-starred in The Lighthouse. Emma Corrin would join the cast the following month. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Simon McBurney, and Ralph Ineson were revealed to be in the cast at the start of production in late February 2023.

Filming
Principal photography began in the Czech Republic on February 20, 2023, with filming taking place at Barrandov Studios in Prague by March. Later that month, the crew was shooting on location at the 14th-century Rožmitál Castle in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem and Prague's Invalidovna complex, a Baroque building registered as a national landmark. Some exterior shots were captured in Romania. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke said that the film was shot in color and was reminiscent of 19th-century Romanticism. Filming wrapped on May 19, 2023.

To prepare for playing the eponymous character, Skarsgård lost a significant amount of weight and worked with an opera singer to lower his vocal range, and spent up to six hours a day having prosthetic makeup applied. Speaking on his experience, Skarsgård said: "It was like conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me."

Release
Nosferatu is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2024, by Focus Features domestically and Universal Pictures internationally.