Willem Dafoe plays a ‘Crazy Vampire Hunter’ in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu

Willem Dafoe, the Oscar-nominated actor known for his roles in Spider-Man, The Lighthouse, and Shadow of the Vampire, is set to join Robert Eggers’ upcoming horror film Nosferatu. 

The film is a reboot of the classic 1922 silent film by F.W. Murnau, which was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film will star Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok, a centuries-old vampire who stalks a young woman (Lily-Rose Depp) across Germany.

Dafoe’s character is being kept under wraps, but according to Eggers, he will play “kind of a Van Helsing type of character, but not exactly.” Dafoe has previously worked with Eggers on The Lighthouse and The Northman, both critically acclaimed films that explored themes of isolation and madness. Dafoe praised Eggers’ directing style as “articulate” and “clear” in an interview with Yahoo Sports.

Nosferatu will also feature Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Simon McBurney, and Ralph Ineson in supporting roles. The film is written and directed by Eggers for Focus Features, which released The Northman in the United States. Eggers said that he wanted to make a film that was “visually unlike anything I have seen” and that he was inspired by the original Nosferatu as well as other horror classics like Nosferatu (1922), Dracula (1931), and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).

Nosferatu is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2024. It will be one of the most anticipated horror films of the year, as it marks the return of Skarsgård to the genre after his acclaimed performance as Pennywise in It: Chapter Two. It will also be Dafoe’s first collaboration with Eggers since The Lighthouse and The Northman.