Would fulfilling anyone else’s childhood dream involve this many rats? No? Just Robert Eggers? The writer-director’s upcoming Nosferatu remake stars Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, and — per Deadline — five thousand real rats. Why such commitment to making the set feel sinister? It’s a long-gestating passion project. Eggers reportedly credits F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent vampire film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror for helping point him to his current career; he was “captivated” by the film when he first watched it at 9 years old, went on to direct a stage adaptation of it in high school, and has wanted to adapt Nosferatu for the screen ever since. Will the final result make it worth the fact that actor Emma Corrin reportedly had to shoot take after take with rodents peeing and pooping on their bare chest? Judge for yourself when Nosferatu comes out. For now, here’s everything we know about the film, from its source material to its collectible popcorn bucket.
What happens in the trailer?
Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) is causing chaos offscreen. We don’t get a clear glimpse of the vampire in the latest Focus Features trailer, but we do see the impact of his obsession with Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). “Standing before me was … death. But I’d never been so happy,” she confides, half-crying and half-laughing. As rats carpet the streets and people rally with blazing torches, Ellen is told that she’s a crucial part of the struggle with the “creature” that wants to “consume all life on earth.” When a silhouette approaches her at the end of the trailer, she whispers, “I’m ready.”
Who’s in the Nosferatu cast?
Bill Skarsgård will try to disgust us (but also get us hot and bothered?) as Count Orlok. The actor previously described his character to Esquire as both “gross” and “very sexualized,” noting that he hopes audiences will be “disgusted” by the fact that they’re feeling a little bit of attraction. That certainly seems to be the case for Ellen Hutter, the object of Orlok’s affection played by Lily-Rose Depp. Nicholas Hoult will star as her husband, Thomas Hutter. The full cast also includes Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Simon McBurney.
And who said no to Nosferatu?
This thing has been in development since at least 2017, so there were bound to be some lineup changes. At one point, the Hutters were set to be played by Anya Taylor-Joy and Harry Styles. So that’s one direction (1D, if you will) that the film could’ve gone in. Instead, Taylor-Joy and Styles reportedly both dropped out of Nosferatu due to scheduling conflicts.
What does this have to do with Bram Stoker’s Dracula?
Well, Nosferatu (2024) is a remake of a movie that famously drew from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel without permission. There were enough similarities between F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent German Expressionist vampire film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror and Dracula that Stoker’s estate was able to successfully sue the film’s producers, ordering all copies of the film to be destroyed. However, at least one made it to the US, where Dracula had already entered the public domain. More copies followed, and Nosferatu has been remembered as a plagiarism success story ever since.
Is there a special Nosferatu popcorn bucket?
Yup. It’s designed to look like a sarcophagus from the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Regal Cinemas will sell the collectible for $30.99 including a large popcorn (or $25.99 if you just want to purchase an empty box). AMC Theaters will also have popcorn coffins for sale, while Alamo Drafthouse is even stuffing its sarcophagi with a fake rat and a “surprise keepsake.” Did we just feel the tide of the popcorn-bucket wars turn?
here’s another better look at the Nosferatu Coffin Popcorn bucket! pic.twitter.com/dkT9fEEkfp
— holly ❀ || happy nosferatu month ❆ (@theseventhshe) November 15, 2024
When does Nosferatu come out?
Nosferatu is set to release on December 25, 2024, which surprised those who were expecting the horror film to drop on Halloween or some other time during spooky season. Still, according to Bloody Disgusting, the remake is set over Christmas, so maybe Focus Features thought this was the more appropriate holiday to use as the release date? We don’t know. The real question is whether anyone’s gonna try to make this a Babygirl double feature. First Barbenheimer, then Glicked, and now, uh … Babyratu?
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