Robert Eggers, the horror visionary behind films likeThe Witchand2024’s best vampire movie,Nosferatu, has revealed the reason why all his films are historical pieces that don’t take place in current times. Considering his films have been mostly acclaimed, it’s not because he hasn’t had the opportunity. Eggers is just not interested because of what they imply.
The director spoke to Rotten Tomatoesrecently aboutNosferatu, and the conversation drifted to his admirable catalog of films. RT just cut to the chase and asked Eggers if he would be interested in making contemporary films. Per his firm answer:
“The idea of having to photograph a car makes me ill. And the idea of photographing a cellphone is just death. And to make a contemporary story you have to photograph a cellphone — it’s just how life is — so no.”
The interviewer also asked Eggers about the “ceiling,” meaning how close to modern times he was willing to go with his movies, and although he was more open when answering, it’s clear that the director of filmslikeThe Lighthouseis just not interested in imagining stories in modern times:
“I might go potentially to 1950 but before World War II is more inviting for my imagination.”
So far, his four films,Nosferatu,The Northman,The Lighthouse,andThe Witch,arehistorical horror piecesthat require production designers to go back in time in order to authentically depict how things happened hundreds of years ago. His most ambitious approach,The Northman, takes place in Scandinavian time in the year 895. That’s three digits.
What Is Robert Eggers Doing Next After ‘Nosferatu’?
Fresh off the success of his vampire epic,Nosferatu, Eggers isn’t planning to stop making unique horror films. Sure, his latest film still has to go over the award season (we have our fingers crossed that horror gets some much-earned recognition this year), but there’s already some news about what Eggers could be doing next afterNosferatu.
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One of the projects by Eggers that was recently confirmed isWerewulf,a completely original take on a werewolf moviethat the director will make with Focus Features, the same distributors ofNosferatu. Eggers will team up with Sjón, his co-writer onThe Northman, fora period piece that’lltake viewers to 13th-century England and will feature dialogues in Old English. Surely, we’ll need some subtitles for this. There’s still nothing confirmed about the casting, but it’s reasonable to expect some familiar Eggers collaborators (Willem Dafoe as a werewolf, please).
Next, Eggers is rumored to be working ona modern sequel toLabyrinth, Jim Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy starring Jennifer Connelly. The director has reportedly struck a deal with TriStar Pictures, and the film will be produced by Chris Columbus alongside his daughter, Eleanor, who has worked previously with Eggers onNosferatu.Whether Eggers makes aLabyrinthsequel or not, we have two questions: 1) Will Jennifer Connelly be back? 2) If the sequel takes place in modern times, wouldn’t that break Eggers' rule of not making contemporary films? Only time will tell, we suppose.
