First Look at Willem Dafoe in NOSFERATU and New Details Revealed For His "Van Helsing"-Type Character
Willem Dafoe recently shared his thoughts on what he’s seen so far of director Robert Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu. While talking to IndieWire, Dafoe shared his excitement for the movie and teased that it’s unlike anything he’s ever seen before! We also have a new photo to share with you thanks to Entertainment Weekly that features the actor in the role of Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz.
Dafoe has been in a lot of wild and unique films in his career, including Egger’s The Lighthouse, so for him to say that Nosferatu is unlike anything he’s ever seen before is a pretty impressive compliment. He said:
"[Eggers] gets better and better and better, gets more articulate, more on top of it. He's so clear when he works. It opens in December of next year, which is a long time away. Trying to be an optimist, I think the studio must feel very strong about it, because that's quite a tough slot, so I'm excited about that. I saw some footage when we were shooting, and I can honestly say, visually, it was like unlike anything I have seen. … The look of it and how it was shot was extraordinary."
Dafoe also revealed some details about his character, saying he's portraying, "kind of a Van Helsing type of character, but not exactly. So, he's true to the source in some ways but also invented in some ways." That will be a great and interesting character for him to play!
Eggers noted that the character of von Franz is a "crazy vampire hunter" in his new film and one he's "always loved and related to."
When talking about the new image that was released, which sees Dafoe surrounded by flames, the director said: "That sequence, aside from having real flames, had 2,000 real rats, which was challenging but also fun."
The official logline reads: "Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Lily-Rose Depp) and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake."
The rest of the cast includes Nicholas Hoult (Renfield), Emma Corrin (Deadpool 3), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) and Ralph Ineson (The Witch).
When talking about the movie, Eggers said: “It’s a scary film. It’s a horror movie. It’s a Gothic horror movie. And I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while. And I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.”
Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski said in a statement: “The audacious filmmaking of Robert Eggers is always a gift for fans, and we can promise that his Nosferatu is planning quite the Christmas feast.”
The movie will be released in theaters on December 25, 2024.
