Robert Eggers’ fourth feature filmNosferatudemonstrates his mastery of slow-burn horror and command of character development, and it made me more excited than ever about the series he was rumored to be developing.Nosferatufeatures scream king Bill Skarsgard as thefearsome undead vampire Count Orlok, who terrorizes a seaside German city in the 1830s with his particular brand of psychic torment, infestation, and blood-letting. Like all Eggers’ feature films,Nosferatuhas been met with critical acclaim for its incredible attention to detail, world-building, and cinematography.
WhileEggers’ other movieshave featured supernatural beings, including a witch, a mermaid, an undead king, and a winged Valkyrie, none of them have ever put the creature or entity at the forefront untilNosferatu. While the ultra-talented cast give unforgettable performances in their roles, the movie is completely stolen by Skarsgard’s Count Orlok. After seeing the impact Eggers made by making a monster the centerpiece of a movie, I’m more excited than ever for him to finally follow through on a TV series that was first in development nearly a decade ago before being put on ice.
Nosferatu Continues A Robert Eggers Rotten Tomatoes Trend And Perfectly Explains Why It Keeps Happening
Robert Eggers' Rotten Tomatoes audience scores are typically much lower than his critic scores, and Nosferatu perfectly demonstrates why.
Robert Eggers Was Reportedly Developing A Series On Grigori Rasputin
The Series Would Have Followed The Rise And Fall Of The Russian Mystic
All the way back in 2016, just after the release of his first feature film,The Witch,Deadlinereported thatRobert Eggers had been hired to write and direct a six-to-eight-episode limited series based on the life of Grigori Rasputin, the notorious Russian mystic whose influence grew in the early 20th century. The series would reportedly have covered his entire life, from growing up impoverished in Siberia, to his rise to power at the right hand of Tsar Nicholas II, and finally his grisly assassination in St. Petersburg in 1916.
An exaggerated version of Rasputin has acted as a villain in past movies, including the animated classicAnastasia, Matthew Vaughn’s spy action movieThe King’s Man, and the 2004 superhero movieHellboy.
Very few details are known about the project’s early development, aside from the fact that Eggers would have been responsible for writing and directing it, as he has with all his projects.The series never wound up being greenlit for one studio/production reason or another, and the fact that Eggers likely would have intended to shoot on-site in Russia (which is far more difficult now due to the current geopolitical state) was probably one of the major complications. Since the initial announcement, Eggers has releasedThe Lighthouse,The Northman, and nowNosferatuwith no real updates on the series.
Nosferatu Shows Why Eggers Is The Best Person To Tackle Rasputin
Eggers' Ability To Explore The Nature Of Evil Is Perfect For The Russian Villain
I firmly believe thatNosferatuwas Eggers' best movie yet, largely due to how strong the character work was. All the credit in the world goes to the ultra-talented cast that brought the story to life, butEggers' script was excellent with regard to how the characters were developed. His build-up and revealing of Count Orlok’s motivations and the depth of his evil was masterfully executed, and perfectly paced. He was able to communicate the gravitas and depth of Count Orlok’s evil, which gives me great confidence that he would be able to fully convey the madness of Grigori Rasputin.
The internal struggle against evil and madness within is a common theme in Eggers' work.
Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter was the other centerpiece of the narrative, andher internal struggle with guilt and her own evilnature also provides evidence that Eggers is perfect for Rasputin. If the series is meant to cover the mystic’s entire life, then there will need to be some true character development as he progresses from a Siberian peasant to one of the most influential figures in Russia. Watching Rasputin slowly go mad as he becomes more depraved and evil is an extremely exciting notion, knowing it would be Eggers' hands molding the transformation.
That internal struggle against the evil and madness withinis a common theme in Eggers' work. For example,Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy)turns from an innocent and pure teenage girl into a willing servant of Satan himself over the course ofThe Witch. Likewise, Thomas Howard (Robert Pattinson) is tormented by his past crimes while slowly slipping into madness inThe Lighthouse, while Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) is a prisoner of his own berserker rage and need for vengeance, causing him to deny a peaceful life of love and family. Rasputin’s rise and fall would be right in Eggers' wheelhouse.
What The Future Looks Like For Eggers' Rasputin Series
It May Still Happen In The Near Future
Eggers' Rasputin series is far from dead, even if there hasn’t been any forward progress on it. In an interview withVariety, Eggers was asked directly about the series, but he brushed it aside, saying, “I don’t think I’ll be shooting on location in Russia anytime soon.” That isn’t an indication that it isn’t still technically in development or on Eggers' mind, though.Rumors suggest that Eggers has at least five projects in the works, including a medieval movie titledThe Knight, and even a movie set in the universe of the iconic 1986 fantasy movieLabyrinth.
February 19th, 2016
$4 million
$40.4 million
91%
60%
October 18th, 2019
$11 million
$18.3 million
90%
72%
April 22nd, 2022
$70-90 million
$69.6 million
64%
December 25th, 2024
$50 million
87%
76%
The Rasputin series could certainly be one of the other projects still on Eggers' plate.He has demonstrated plenty of enthusiasm for taking on “The Mad Monk” since the series was originally announced, and it may still be in the pipeline in the near future. Given the financial and critical success ofNosferatu, it seems likely that Eggers will continue to earn more opportunities to pursue his passion projects, and bigger budgets with which to do it.
Nosferatu
Cast
Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name from director F. W. Murnau. Robert Eggers is crafting his own version of the story for the reboot as writer and director, with Bill Skarsgård stepping into the shoes of Count Orlok. Nosferatu tells the tale of a young woman who falls victim to a vampire utterly infatuated with her.
