Willem Dafoe says Nosferatu is unlike anything he's ever seen

Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu
(Image credit: Focus Features)

Willem Dafoe has shared new details about Nosferatu – and he's got us very excited. 

The film is directed by Robert Eggers, helmer of The Northman, The Lighthouse, and The Witch, and stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Dafoe. 

"[Eggers] gets better and better and better, gets more articulate, more on top of it," Dafoe told IndieWire. "He's so clear when he works. It opens in December of next year, which is a long time away. Trying to be an optimist, I think the studio must feel very strong about it, because that's quite a tough slot, so I'm excited about that. I saw some footage when we were shooting, and I can honestly say, visually, it was like unlike anything I have seen. … The look of it and how it was shot was extraordinary."

He also revealed a little more about his character, saying he's portraying "kind of a Van Helsing type of character, but not exactly. So, he's true to the source in some ways but also invented in some ways." 

Per the official logline, "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." Mark us down as extremely intrigued. 

"He's so transformed in every aspect that I don’t know if people will give him the credit," Eggers told our sister publication Total Film of Skarsgård's performance. "You can see Bill [as Pennywise] in the It make-up; you can't detect any Bill here. He worked with an opera coach to lower his voice an octave. I think people are going to think we treated it digitally, but that's his performance."

Nosferatu arrives on December 25, 2024, so you can plan one frightening Christmas for next year. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming major movie release dates to get planning the rest of your theater trips. 

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.