'Nosferatu' Remake: Robert Eggers To Write And Direct The Movie

A remake of the movie “Nosferatu” that focuses on the vampire Count Orlok is reportedly being made. The German silent classic was based on the story of Dracula.

According to a report by Deadline, Robert Eggers will be writing and directing the new project. The remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent movie will be produced by Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8.

The report notes that Eggers won the best directing award for his 2015 movie “The Witch” at the Sundance Film Festival. The director made two short movies, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Hansel and Gretel,” before winning the award. He has mostly worked on shorts as a production designer and on projects like “The Five Stages of Grief.” He has also been a part of the TV shows “I Married a Mobster” and “Futurestates.”

Eggers will not be the first person to remake the 1922 movie. In 1979, Werner Herzog made a movie about the count with Walter Ladengast as Dr. Van Helsing, Martje Grohmann as Mina and Klaus Kinski in the lead role as Count Dracula.

A more recent movie about the character was released in 2000: “Shadow of the Vampire,” starring John Malkovich as the ambitious filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. The plot retold the troubles the cast and crew faced making “Nosferatu.” None of the cast members in the movie know that the director has chosen to use a real vampire in the lead role.

“Nosferatu” was in the news recently after some grave robbers reportedly stole Murnau's head. According to a report by Variety, the head was stolen from the director’s family plot in a cemetery in Stahnsdorf, Germany. Murnau is said to have been buried there after his death in 1931. The report notes that the director’s vampire flick is “one of the scariest horror movies of all time.”

The release date of the new “Nosferatu” remake has not been announced by the producers. Eggers is said to have signed another deal with Studio 8 that makes him the writer and director of “The Knight.”