Nosferatu (Anya Taylor-Joy)

The female lead and the director of the critically acclaimed Indie hit The Witch are reuniting for another dose of classical horror. It’s been announced that Anya Taylor-Joy is in conversation to become part of the new remake of Nosferatu, which is being helmed by Robert Eggers.

The original Nosferatu was released in 1922 and was a silent expressionist horror film, directed by the German filmmaker F. W. Murnau. It was basically an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but cheekily got around the copyright issues by simply changing names. Although many copies were destroyed after court proceedings with Stoker’s family, it survived to become a celebrated classic. The chilling images and depiction of the vampire count as a rat-faced creature with bat-like ears, soon ingrained itself into public consciousness and has directly influenced some modern horror, such as Mr. Barlow in the TV version of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. A remake called Nosferatu the Vampyre was made by Werner Herzog in 1979, and starred Klaus Kinski in the title role, looking as hideous as the character did in 1922.

Towards the end of 2016, Eggers stated that he was a huge fan of the 1922 original and confirmed that his next project was a Nosferatu remake.

Although he had intended to include Taylor-Joy in the early stages of development, her full schedule meant that this just wasn’t possible.

However, Variety has reported today that Taylor-Joy is now in negotiations with Studio 8 to join the cast of the horror remake.

Since the critical success of The Witch, Taylor-Joy has been much in demand for various productions. After playing the female lead in the box-office hit Split, she signed up for the sequel Glass. She also recently appeared as the title character in the sci-fi thriller Morgan and will be playing Magik in New Mutants.

Eggers has also seen his bankability and opportunities increase since The Witch. He has already signed a deal with Studio 8 and is attached to direct another film for them titled The Knight (which is being described as a “medieval epic“). It’s worth noting that the director has previously expressed a great deal of respect and admiration for Nosferatu, and is determined to bring an atmospheric version of the tale to the screen, which he is writing as well as directing.

Although there is no further news on casting or a release date, the reteaming of the talented Taylor-Joy and Eggers is encouraging. If the visuals and tone contained in The Witch is indicative of what will be on the screen for Nosferatu, then it should be a perfect match for the gothic romance and creepy images from the silent classic. We look forward to hearing more information about the film as it becomes available.

Rusty wrote:I'll keep an eye on this. The Witch was great, and Taylor-Joy was fantastic.

This is the sort of direction Universal should be taking with their monster universe, instead of that cheesy action blockbuster shit.

Rusty wrote:Yet to see Split.