Robert Eggers drew inspiration from a big selection of films whereas making Nosferatu. Listed here are just a few he’s talked about in interviews.
Remakes not often get any higher than Nosferatu (2024). Primarily based on the 1922 movie Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror from influential German director F.W. Murnau, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a gorgeously darkish story of obsession, insanity, and demise. The movie’s wealthy Gothic aesthetic makes it really feel like an instantaneous basic for the style, so it ought to come as no shock that its creation is steeped in movie historical past.
In numerous interviews, Robert Eggers—the author, director, and producer of Nosferatu—talks in regards to the numerous motion pictures that impressed him whereas creating his newest masterpiece. Listed under is a collection of the flicks he’s spoken about (and the place you possibly can watch them) so you possibly can marathon just a few of the movies that helped form this new incarnation of Nosferatu.
After all, when you simply wish to see extra Nosferatu, try these motion pictures:
However — you may also wish to simply watch a few of these motion pictures that impressed Nosferatu, that are all streaming on-line on numerous subscription companies.
In case you’ve seen Lily-Rose Depp’s fascinating portrayal of a girl possessed in Nosferatu, and when you’ve additionally seen Isabelle Adjani’s mesmerizing efficiency in Possession, you then’re positive to note the similarities. In an article posted by Mia Lee Vicino on Letterboxd, Robert Eggers is quoted as saying that he knew Lily-Rose was proper for the position of Ellen Hutter when she “instantly introduced up Possession.” As for the comparisons between herself and Adjani, Depp says it’s “excessive reward” to be in comparison with such an unbelievable actress.
Svengali and Nosferatu are related in that they each characteristic an imposing male determine who’s trying to supernaturally coerce a girl to bend to his will. In Svengali, the technique of coercion is hypnotism. There’s a particular scene about 35 minutes into the film through which Svengali (John Barrymore) makes use of his thoughts to name to his goal, the attractive Trilby O’Farrell (Marian Marsh), from distant. His energy travels throughout town and rouses Trilby from her mattress. Robert Eggers mentions this sequence as a tonal affect on an analogous scene in Nosferatu when Depend Orlok casts his shadow throughout Wisborg, Germany.
Given its roots within the German Expressionism of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu, its no shock that Robert Eggers was additionally impressed by one other of Murnau’s movies. Whereas chatting with DC Film Girl throughout an interview, Eggers mentions Faust (1926) when discussing a few of his movie’s imagery. In Faust, Mephisto spreads his wings over a village to suggest the plague he has unleashed on its inhabitants. This putting picture was an inspiration for Eggers when he depicted the plague Orlok brings with him as a shadow spreading all through the city.
Robert Eggers spoke to Alamo Drafthouse for his or her “Guest Selects” sequence, and he gave them a listing of some different movies that impressed Nosferatu. First on his listing is The Innocents (1961). Directed by Jack Clayton and filmed by Freddie Francis, The Innocents is without doubt one of the most haunting Gothic ghost stories ever placed on movie. Robert Eggers agrees with that evaluation, and he says he watches the film typically for inspiration. For Nosferatu particularly, he informed Alamo Drafthouse that what Freddie Francis “does with the digital camera was very inspiring for what my cinematographer and I had been as much as in Nosferatu.”
The ambiance and performances in Cries and Whispers are the most important influences on Nosferatu. The movie, written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, is a few girl with terminal most cancers who’s visited in her closing days by her two sisters. It’s a shifting drama that Robert Eggers describes to Alamo Drafthouse as “among the finest horror movies ever made, regardless that it actually doesn’t attempt to be one and wouldn’t be categorized as one.” He says that when he directed his actors in Nosferatu, he typically thought in regards to the performances in Cries and Whispers.
When crafting the ambiance of Nosferatu, significantly in direction of the top of the film, Robert Eggers says he drew inspiration from The Queen of Spades. The movie is a few man who turns into obsessive about studying the secrets and techniques of a girl who’s believed to have bought her soul in an effort to amass a fortune enjoying playing cards. Robert Eggers admires the camerawork and the composition of the photographs in The Queen of Spades, and he tried to emulate that very same feeling in Nosferatu.
