Robert Eggers is one among only some administrators previously decade to seize the eye of horror followers. He virtually put A24 on the map with The Witch and The Lighthouse. These two movies had been area of interest crowd pleasers which turned the touchstone of A24’s future content material.
It wasn’t till The Northman that Eggers went pseudo-mainstream, however 2024 put him front-and-center within the large leagues of Tinseltown along with his vampire opus Nosferatu, a significant awards contender with critics and followers placing it on the prime of their “better of” lists.
iHorror talked to Eggers the day after Nosferatu hit the house leisure digital market and simply forward of the announcement of his subsequent venture Werwulf which is able to reportedly open on Christmas Day 2026.
The 41 yr previous is great to speak to in individual and if I had extra time, slightly than the allotted 10 minutes by which to conduct the interview, we’d have gone on for one more hour. He’s candid, laidback and humble. We principally talked about Nosferatu, however I used to be stunned at one among his solutions regarding future initiatives.
iHorror: When did you understand you needed to retell the Nosferatu story?
Robert Eggers: It was about 10 years in the past and fortunately it took 10 years for it to be inexperienced lit as a result of I wanted the time to reevaluate my capability to do it. I’ve grown quite a bit as an individual—as a filmmaker, and my collaboration with my heads of division have develop into extra fluid through the years and it’s simpler for us to articulate our inventive imaginative and prescient and get what’s in our heads onto the display, so I’m glad it took a very long time.
Lily-Rose Depp was unbelievable. Did you need to pull that efficiency out of her or was that each one on her personal?
I imply, look, Lily’s an extremely proficient and intuitive performer, and she or he actually understood this function. And once we had our first assembly it was clear that she simply acquired it. After which she gave an audition that was large and simply was like uncooked, ferocious and courageous at what she does on display. However clearly like there was work, , she spent months engaged on an accent, she spent months engaged on the physicality and all of the physique work, , it’s essential to have self-discipline to make it work on display, however she had the uncooked materials and the expertise and the fireplace to do it, and the self-discipline to excellent it over time.
I really feel like The Northman was a pivotal second in your profession. It was a grander scale than what you’re used to. What did you find out about moviemaking after finishing that movie?
I imply, , the ebook could be 100 volumes lengthy. I imply, truthfully I feel your level is completely right, but it surely’s virtually it’s an excessive amount of to to get into.
You realize, a few of the Northmen press I used to be like whinging about that type of factor, and I remorse doing that as a result of that’s simply a part of making a film at that scale, . And I’m certain administrators who’ve been via that earlier than are like, ‘look buddy like welcome to Hollywood.’ On [Nosferatu] I had Focus Options they usually had been so extremely supportive the entire approach via and I’m proud to have made a film with like whole inventive management.
What was it like working with so many rats in Nosferatu?
Yeah, I. imply, we, we had been working uh with the Bareš household and Oda Bareš like skilled the fox to say chaos reigns and anti-Christ, in order that they, they actually know what they’re doing, and I’ve a ton of respect for rats. They’re extremely clever, like, 200 or one thing of the 2000 rats we had had been skilled to enter on cue is kind of spectacular. However yeah, when you could have like 1000’s of them at one time—we’re utilizing plexiglass barricades to maintain the rats in body and secure—it may be a little bit bit a little bit bit more difficult.
Like what Spielberg did for his snakes in Raiders of the Misplaced Ark.
Properly, , it was humorous as a result of we truly watched that scene and stated they’ve gotta be up in opposition to Plexiglass—that’s gotta be what it’s.
Interval items are what you do and I don’t wish to pigeonhole you into that, however would you do a future movie that takes place within the fashionable world?
I wouldn’t, , I’m simply not . I wouldn’t wanna should {photograph} vehicles and cell telephones and different…firing objects.
Do you could have any concepts to your subsequent venture? Are you able to speak about it?
I can’t wait to start out taking pictures the following factor, however yeah, I’ve acquired a bunch of stuff in growth. I’m at all times engaged on a number of initiatives, so we’ll see what’s subsequent, however I’m enthusiastic about all the varied prospects.
