Robert Eggers Attempted to Make a FRANKENSTEIN Movie Before NOSFERATU but It “Definitely Sucked”

Director Robert Eggers has delivered some great atmospheric, historical, and detailed horror films like The Witch and The Lighthouse, over the course of his career, and has made another great movie with Nosferatu.

While his haunting reinterpretation of the silent classic vampire film has been a hit with critics and audiences, Eggers recently revealed that he was working on developing a Frankenstein movie before he made Nosferatu.

However, his attempt at bringing Mary Shelley's iconic story to life ended in failure, and by his own admission, it “definitely sucked”.

In a candid interview with Conversations at Curzon, Eggers opened up about his brief attempt at taking on the story describing it as an idea that just didn’t take root.

“When my son was born, I had an unconscious urge, I’m sure because of that, but as I started writing, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is why.’”

“But as I started to try to do Frankenstein, which after two weeks, I was like, ‘There’s no way I can do this, it’s impossible.’ It definitely sucked.”

Eggers is known for his meticulous attention to historical detail and his ability to craft atmospheric narratives, and the idea of a Frankenstein story through Eggers’ vision seems like it would be great!

But, the director himself recognized that the project wasn’t the right fit for him. He said: “Sometimes you know you’ve got a dud.”

Eggers also expressed his excitement for Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming adaptation of Frankenstein, which is going to be released later this year, saying: “I’m excited to see what Guillermo does with it.”

Eggers also talked about other projects that remain in limbo. One of them is a medieval film titled The Knight, and he said: “I read it on a plane a few months ago, and it’s definitely worth revisiting. He then acknowledged its initial draft felt “a little juvenile.”

I want to point out that Nosferatu was a project that Eggers was working on for nearly a decade. Eggers first considered taking it on right after his breakout debut, The Witch, in 2015. However, it took years of refining the script to bring it to a level that he was happy with.

It would’ve been interesting to see what Eggers would do with Frankenstein, but it’s one of those things that we may never see.