Development on the film began in 2015 when Eggers planned to make it his second film, describing it as a passion project, but eventually opted to delay production. Skarsgård and Depp were cast as leads in September 2022. Hoult joined the cast the following month, with the remaining cast confirmed at the start of production. Filming took place primarily at Barrandov Studios in Prague between February and May 2023.
Nosferatu is scheduled to be released in the United States by Focus Features on December 25, 2024.
Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
In July 2015, a remake of Nosferatu (1922) was announced with Robert Eggers writing and directing. Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen were slated to produce the film for Studio 8.[3] In November 2016, Eggers expressed surprise that the Nosferatu remake was his second planned film, saying, "It feels ugly and blasphemous and egomaniacal and disgusting for a filmmaker in my place to do Nosferatu next. I was really planning on waiting a while, but that's how fate shook out."[4] During an interview with Den of Geek around the release of The Lighthouse (2019), Robert Eggers revealed that although he had dedicated a lot of time to bringing the iconic horror film into the 21st century, he didn't know when or if it would happen. Despite that, Eggers said, "Look, I spent so many years and so much time, just so much blood on it, yeah, it would be a real shame if it never happened".[5]
In August 2017, Anya Taylor-Joy was cast.[6] Years later, in early 2022, Eggers was asked if he and Taylor-Joy still communicated about the project, saying, "We definitely talk about it, and I don't know why it's been so hard to make happen."[7] It was revealed in March 2022 that English singer Harry Styles was briefly attached to an undisclosed role in the film, but eventually dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.[8]
In September 2022, it was announced that Bill Skarsgård was set to star as the eponymous Nosferatu, Count Orlok, with Lily-Rose Depp cast to replace Taylor-Joy.[9] Skarsgård had originally been offered the lead role of Thomas Hutter while Taylor-Joy was still attached to star before the project was stalled for a few years.[10] In October 2022, Nicholas Hoult joined the cast.[11] In January 2023, Willem Dafoe, who had previously portrayed Max Schreck/Count Orlok in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), joined the cast after having co-starred in The Lighthouse.[12]Emma Corrin would join the cast the following month.[13]Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Simon McBurney, and Ralph Ineson were announced as joining cast at the start of production in late February 2023.[14][15]
To prepare for playing the eponymous character, Skarsgård lost a significant amount of weight and worked with an opera singer to lower his vocal range, and spent up to six hours a day having prosthetic makeup applied. Speaking on his experience, Skarsgård said: "It was like conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me."[10]