Willem Dafoe Looks Unhinged In Nosferatu First Look At Crazy Vampire Hunter

Portraying crazed vampire hunter Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz in the upcoming film, the Lighthouse actor is leaning into more unhinged territory with a harrowing scene involving a burning tomb, and about 2,000 live rats scattering through the wreckage.

Though the 1922 German Expressionist film of the same name featured the same character less prominently, writer and director Robert Eggers simply couldn’t help himself when he cast Willem Dafoe to make the role more significant when compared to past iterations of Nosferatu.

Nosferatu will mark the second remake of Henrik Galeen’s iconic 1922 gothic horror film, which is an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula novel.

Werner Herzog was the first filmmaker to remake the film with 1979’s Nosferatu the Vampyre. The upcoming film will mark the third time Willem Dafoe and Robert Eggers have collaborated, so it’s safe to say that the star and director have excellent chemistry with each other after working together on The Lighthouse and The Northman.

If Willem Dafoe put in even one-tenth of the manic energy we witnessed in either film, then we can expect more of the same in Nosferatu.

But by the sounds of it, his contributions to The Lighthouse and The Northman are about to be surpassed by a significant margin if the current promotional photos circulating have revealed anything to us.

Though Willem Dafoe will be featured prominently in Nosferatu, Bill Skarsgård will be taking on the lead role of the menacing vampire, Count Orlok.

Deeply infatuated with Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter, Orlok haunts the young woman as an unsettling story of obsession emerges.

It goes without saying that Willem Dafoe was born to play the part of Von Franz in Nosferatu, but Skarsgård most certainly looks (and sounds) the part for the lead role.

Without revealing too much about the film, Eggers expressed excitement over the It actor’s willingness to work with an opera instructor to lower his voice a full octave. Other actors have been known to rely on digital assistance in the form of post-production studio magic, but in Skarsgård’s case we’ll be hearing his natural voice.

Eggers also revealed that Nosferatu’s story will have a stronger focus on Depp’s Ellen Hutter character, and that her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) will not be the primary protagonist.

Though Thomas Hutter was in the forefront in the original Nosferatu film, Ellen will be the heroine in the 2024 adaptation. With Willem Dafoe dialing it up to eleven, and Lily-Rose Depp portraying a powerful female lead, we’re going to witness a stylistically bold vampire thriller that will stun us for years to come.

Nosferatu‘s outside scenes were primarily filmed in Prague in early 2023, with some exterior shots captured in Romania, utilizing the brilliant architecture found in both locations. Filming for the Willem Dafoe film wrapped on May 19 2023, and we can expect a wide theatrical release on December 25 2024.

Source: Entertainment Weekly