Willem Dafoe confirmed to star in Robert Eggers’ new Nosferatu: who will play Count Orlok

Willem Dafoe and Robert Eggers are set to collaborate again, this time on the upcoming remake of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 classic Nosferatu.

He will join Lily Rose-Depp, Bill Skarsgard, and Nicholas Hoult, Deadline reports.

Willem Dafoe will collaborate with Eggers for the third time, following 2019’s The Lighthouse and 2022’s The Northman.

Based largely on the 1922 original, Eggers’ film will follow the story of a young woman (Depp) in 19th-century Germany who becomes the target of an ancient Transylvanian vampire named Count Orlok (played by Skarsgard).

Significantly, the role will be a trip down memory lane for Dafoe, who played Orlok in Shadow of the Vampire, a quirky historical drama that tells the story of the making of Murnau’s Nosferat and Max Schreck’s extraordinary dedication to his character. Starring John Malkovich, Udo Kier, Cary Elwes and Eddie Izzard in the lead roles, the film managed to split critics and audiences into two categories.

Robert Eggers, the perfect director to remake Nosferatu

In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Eggers detailed his love of Nosferatu and German director F. W. Murnau, saying: “He is responsible for some of the best cinematic pictures of all time, from Nosferatu to Faust to Sunset. His work has been so influential that directors of later generations may refer to Murnau without knowing it.”

“There were films before him, obviously, but Nosferatu invented horror films. Editing the parallel story together, in a way, invents cinema, if you will,” Robert Eggers also said, speaking of the film as having sparked a cultural obsession with cinema’s most terrifying genre, even today.

The 1922 original still haunts audiences even today. We have to admit, Eggers is by far the perfect director to remake the famous Nosferatu.