Almost eight years after the project was first announced, production is finally set to begin on The Witch (watch it HERE) writer/director Robert Eggers‘ remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch that HERE). Cameras are expected to start rolling on location in Europe next month, and with the first day of filming drawing near Deadline has broken the news that Emma Corrin – who is best known for playing Princess Diana in the Netflix series The Crown – has joined the cast of Nosferatu. Details on the character Corrin will be playing have not been revealed.
Corrin’s co-stars in the film include Lily-Rose Depp (Yoga Hosers), Nicholas Hoult (The Menu), and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home), with Bill Skarsgard (It) taking on the role of the title character.
An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the original Nosferatu has the following synopsis: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home.
Nosferatu was previously remade by Werner Herzog in 1979, with Klaus Kinski playing the title character. The 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire was a fictional account of the making of Nosferatu, with Willem Dafoe playing Max Schreck as an actual vampire.
When Eggers’ Nosferatu was first announced, the expectation was that his The Witch star Anya Taylor-Joy would be playing the Ellen role. But Taylor-Joy had trouble fitting the project into her busy schedule, and on two different occasions when Taylor-Joy was available to work on Nosferatu the project ended up falling apart. (Most recently because Harry Styles has been cast as Hutter, then had to drop out.) So Eggers ended up taking the next opportunity to get Nosferatu made, even if it would be without Taylor-Joy.
Eggers is producing the remake with Jeff Robinson, John Graham, Chris Columbus, and Eleanor Columbus.
Are you looking forward to Nosferatu? What do you think of the cast Eggers has assembled for the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.