Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu Filmed At The Same Castle As Werner Herzog’s Version

For over 100 years now, Nosferatu has been the last word cinematic vampire – or, ‘vampyr’, if you wish to go actually old-school – story. The crooked shadow of FW Murnau’s 1922 movie nonetheless looms giant over the style, later reimagined by Werner Herzog in his 1979 Nosferatu. Even the making of Nosferatu nonetheless has its fangs in individuals, as fictionalised in 2000’s Shadow Of The Vampire, during which Willem Dafoe’s Max Schrek – the actor who performed Rely Orlok – seems to really be a vampire. All of which to say, Robert Eggers has large footwear to fill together with his 2024 tackle Nosferatu – conjuring a full-blooded imaginative and prescient of the traditional story in all its gothic terror.

When it got here to discovering real-life places befitting an historical vampire’s lair, it was unimaginable to not reconnect with Nosferatu historical past. The gatehouse and courtyard of Rely Orlok’s gaff in Eggers movie was shot at Pernštejn Fort within the Czech Republic – besides, in selecting the placement, the filmmaker (who had opted out of rewatching earlier variations of the movie) didn’t initially realise it was already a part of Nosferatu lore. “It was really used because the fort for Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu [1979],” the filmmaker tells Empire, “however I’d been consciously not watching that movie, so it didn’t happen to me.” Fortunately, he quickly realised that he supposed to shoot totally different elements of Pernštejn to Herzog, and wouldn’t be merely retreading the previous. “We have been ready to make use of the Herzog fort with out utilizing the Herzog fort, which was form of superior,” he says.

As for the exterior picture of Orlok’s abode, that function went to Transylvania’s Hunedoara Fort (aka Corvin Fort). “We needed to shoot Transylvania for Transylvania, however on the finish, it wasn’t financially possible,” Eggers notes. “So we shot some plates. Most of Transylvania [in the film] is the Czech Republic, however probably the most epic landscapes are literally Transylvania, together with that fort.” Generally, you merely want the true deal.