Movies
‘Nosferatu’ 2024: First Image of Willem Dafoe as a Mad Vampire Hunter in Robert Eggers Remake
Willem Dafoe is no stranger to the world of Nosferatu, as he famously played original Nosferatu actor Max Schreck in the 2000 movie Shadow of the Vampire. Dafoe returns to that arena in the upcoming Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) remake of Nosferatu, only this time around he’s playing a human who’s hunting the vampire.
Entertainment Weekly has shared a new image from Nosferatu this morning, giving us our first look at Willem Dafoe’s character in the film, Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz.
Eggers describes the character as “a crazy vampire hunter.”
Focus Features will release Nosferatu in theaters for Christmas on December 25, 2024.
Willem Dafoe, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin and Lily-Rose Depp will star in Nosferatu, with Skarsgard playing Nosferatu/Count Orlok in the film.
As we’ve recently learned, the cast also includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) and Ralph Ineson (The Witch).
“Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.”
Eggers (The Witch, The Northman) directs and he wrote the script. Eggers also serves as a producer alongside Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Jeff Robinov, and John Graham.
Focus is distributing in the U.S. with Universal Pictures International handling international.
F.W. Murnau directed the original 1922 version of Nosferatu, while fellow German filmmaker Werner Herzog notably directed his own version of the classic tale back in 1979.
The 1922 silent movie followed the vampire Count Orlok, who wants to buy a house in Germany and becomes enamored with the real-estate agent’s wife. It was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” which almost led to all copies being destroyed.
The buried origins of the cinema zombie will be explored in upcoming documentary Black Zombie, and Deadline reports that Kino Lorber has picked up the doc for U.S. release.
Kino Lorber will release Black Zombie in theaters later this year.
From writer and director Maya Annik Bedward, Black Zombie digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the zombie’s buried and unsettling origins.
Long before it became associated with flesh-eating ghouls, the zombie was a living metaphor for slavery: not a monster, but the ultimate victim of colonial power.
Deadline further details, “Director Maya Annik Bedward traces the evolution of the zombie from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood, reconsidering iconic films like White Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, and The Serpent and the Rainbow alongside archival footage, vérité scenes, and interviews with cultural historians, artists, and genre legends including Yves-Grégory Francois, Mambo Labelle Déesse, Slash, Tom Savini, and Zandashé Brown. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, Black Zombie exposes how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters.”
“I’m thrilled to partner with Kino Lorber on the release of Black Zombie,” said Maya Annik Bedward. “The film explores the power of images to shape our understanding of history, culture, and race, making it especially meaningful to work with a distributor so deeply engaged with cinema’s past and present. Their passion for films that challenge, illuminate, and expand our understanding of the world makes them an ideal partner for bringing this story to audiences across the U.S.”
Kino Lorber’s Karoliina Dwyer adds, “The zombie is one of the most iconic images in cinema, and you’ll never look at them the same after watching Black Zombie. Maya Annik Bedward has crafted a fascinating, deeply researched documentary that unearths the long-buried Haitian origins of the genre, interrogating colonial, political, and Hollywood history to powerful and illuminating effect. We’re so proud to bring this documentary to U.S. audiences this fall.”
Executive producers for the documentary include music legend Slash.
‘I Walked With a Zombie’ (1943)
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