For all the grief critics and cinephiles give to the film industry for constantly remaking and rebooting the same properties over and over again, there are some stories that demand retelling again and again. A Star Is Born and Little Women are two fine examples, but there's something special about the classic monster tale.
When Bram Stoker's novel Dracula debuted in 1897, it scratched an itch that Edgar Allen Poe, the Brontë sisters and Mary Shelly had previously. Stoker introduced themes in his novel, such as sex, gender and racism, that have demanded redefinition and interpretation in the century-plus since Count Dracula entered the public conscience.
In 1922, German director F. W. Murnau became the first filmmaker to wholly adapt Stoker's novel (although unauthorized and unofficially) in what has become a renowned piece of cinema history, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. Since then, countless adaptations have been made in Hollywood and around the world, with Robert Eggers being the latest filmmaker to mount Stoker's book — or, more specifically, Murnau's Nosferatu — for the big screen.
"The themes of the story are things that everyone can always relate to, and are very timeless. And also the Murnau movie being so ahead of its time — [it's] such an iconic piece of cinema," Nicholas Hoult, who stars in Eggers's remake, tells Exclaim! "I think it's something that's ingrained in storytelling. As much as there's folklore within the story, [there are] things that are very human."
Adds Lily-Rose Depp, "There's so much to dive into. The world [and] the characters are so fascinating. There's room for different filmmakers to take it and create their own story with it, and that's very much what I think Rob did."
Eggers, focusing on the "very human" aspect Hoult alludes to, places the mortal Thomas and Ellen Hutter at the centre of his film. Portrayed by Hoult and Depp, respectively, the recently married Hutters find themselves linked to the mysterious Count Orlok (played by Bill Skarsgård in Eggers's film) — Thomas by trade, and Ellen by curious psychic connection.
While the director of The Northman, The Lighthouse and The Witch remains fairly faithful to the changes Murnau made in an effort to evade copyright issues with Stoker's work, Eggers does return one character to his original Stoker form: Thomas Hutter in Murnau's film and subsequent adaptations has been presented as a rather meek and useless character, in contrast to Stoker's Jonathan Harker, who not only takes an active role in tracking down Dracula, but also uses his skills as a solicitor to do so.
Eggers, who also wrote the screenplay, grants Thomas some of Jonathan's agency — something that has evaded Mr. Hutter for over a century. Hoult finds the equilibrium between Murnau and Stoker that Eggers aims for: a man slightly uncomfortable with taking charge, but one who desperately wants to.
"He's incapable of keeping up in life," says Hoult, explaining his interpretation of Thomas. "We often learn what we needed to know too late, and I think that's the case for him as a character. Perhaps his agency would be much more powerful and useful if he was someone that was equipped to deal with this world and to understand Ellen early enough."
He continues, "Because he is slightly naïve and playing catch-up, it means that he can't understand what Ellen's going through, [and] he goes off on this mission thinking that more money and a promotion are going to be the things that solve their problems. He's the person who is behind emotionally and mentally in life."
Hoult's understanding of the character is an extension of Eggers's understanding. For a story that has been adapted across multiple decades, languages and cultures, Eggers has found a way to put his distinctive fingerprints on it — the same prints that made The Witch and The Lighthouse unique works of horror, turning Eggers into a household name in the genre.
"When you watch a Robert Eggers movie, there's no doubt that you are watching a Robert Eggers movie," Depp says. "He creates a world and pulls you into it [in a way] that's so incredible and very much his own. I think that this was the perfect platform for Rob to create a world that is both true to the tale of Nosferatu and so Eggers, which, as a Robert Eggers fan, I was very excited about."