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Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu to star Bill Skarsgard

It looks as though Robert Eggers' long-gestating Nosferatu movie is finally going ahead, with Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp now in the lead roles

Nosferatu

After much to-ing and fro-ing, it looks as though Robert Eggers’ long-planned horror movie Nosferatu movie is finally happening. And after several different actors have circled the role (including Willem Dafoe), it looks as though Eggers has found his star in Bill Skarsgård.

Eggers’ last movie was the Viking revenge epic The Northman, starring Bill’s brother Alexander. According to Deadline, it looks as though the project has now landed at Focus Features, with Lily-Rose Depp set to co-star. At one stage, the film was going to star Harry Styles and Anya Taylor-Joy. Skarsgård has become a go-to actor for horror movie reboots, from his most famous role as Pennywise in It, to the upcoming remake of The Crow.

Nosferatu (1922) is a landmark work of German expressionist cinema and has been hugely influential in the decades since. It was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with character names changed. It was almost lost when Bram Stoker’s estate sued and ordered all copies of the film be destroyed. It’s a miracle that a few prints survived, allowing it to become a classic work shown in film schools.

Eggers’ 2019 movie The Lighthouse (set in the 1890s) was filmed in black-and-white, with an unusual aspect ratio, and had many hallmarks of early silent cinema. It’s not yet known if he will use similar techniques for Nosferatu.

Skarsgård is currently starring in sleeper horror hit Barbarian and will soon be seen in John Wick: Chapter 4. Lily-Rose Depp has recently starred in the dark independent films Wolf (with George MacKay) and Silent Night (with Keira Knightley). Her next project is Sam Levinson’s The Idol, alongside The Weeknd.

Nosferatu is clearly a passion project for Eggers, which has been stuck in development hell for some time, so it will be exciting to finally see his vision come to fruition. While we wait to hear more, check out our guide to the best Netflix horror movies.