Fresh off the hit horror movie Barbarian, Bill Skarsgard has signed on to star in Robert Eggers‘ long-gestating remake of the classic vampire movie Nosferatu, which now has Lily-Rose Depp in talks to play the female lead instead of Anya Taylor-Joy.
Eggers, who previously directed The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman, is directing from his own screenplay, which is described as a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Depp) in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire (Skarsgard) who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.
Nosferatu is currently set up at Focus Features, which almost surely lost some money on The Northman, though its leaders clearly have faith in Eggers’ unique vision here. The filmmaker is producing alongside Jeff Robinov and John Graham as well as Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus.
Back in 2019, the project was in development at Robinov’s Studio 8, though budget issues and talent schedules forced the company to press pause until Focus stepped in. Since then, it has been a passion project for Eggers, who couldn’t shake it.
While Harry Styles was, indeed, originally attached to star in Nosferatu, it actually wasn’t as the monster, so technically, Skarsgard isn’t replacing him. Instead, Styles was going to play Hutter, who in the original 1922 Nosferatu, is sent to visit Count Orlok’s remote castle.m Meanwhile, Depp beat out a slew of competitors who met with Eggers after Taylor-Joy’s busy schedule forced her to bow out of the hot project.
Though Depp and Skarsgard aren’t quite on the level of Taylor-Joy and Styles, both castings can be seen as a coup, as in addition to his starring role in Barbarian, Skarsgard has wrapped both John Wick: Chapter 4 and the upcoming reboot of The Crow. Depp, for her part, will soon be seen as the lead in the HBO series The Idol, which hails from The Weeknd and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.
Skarsgard is represented by WME and Magnolia Entertainment, while Depp is repped by CAA and Markham, Froggatt & Irwin Agence Adequat. Deadline broke the news.
