Why did director Robert Eggers use Nosferatu instead of Dracula in his horror film?

Spoilers For the upcoming “Nosferatu” (2024).

In Murnau and Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” Orlok is captured by Ellen Hutter, just as Dracula was with Mina Harker. In both films, Ellen defeats the vampire by luring him into her bedroom, keeping him so busy feeding on her blood that he doesn’t see the sun rise to strike him. Elaine dies, so does Orlok, and the plague he brought disappears. Compare that to Stoker’s Dracula, where Harker, Van Helsing and company. He chased Dracula, stabbed him, and beheaded him.

In the aforementioned Screen Rant interview, Eggers added that Ellen’s sacrifice gives the story extra power for him:

“The thing I really loved about Murnau’s film is that it ends with the heroine being the heroine. I thought it would be more interesting if the whole film was told through her eyes, because it had the potential to be more emotional.” As psychologically complex as an adventure story about an estate agent, it is a frightening horror film – and it is, and there are even some scares – it is a gothic romance, a love story and a fable. mania.”

Francis Ford Coppola’s extravagant “Dracula.” Making the Count (Gary Oldman) and Mina (Winona Ryder) true, mutual lovers — Mina was the embodiment of Dracula’s lost love, Elisabetta, you see. Likewise, Eggers’ “Nosferatu” gives Orlok and Elaine a history, but it’s not a truly romantic history.

In keeping with Eggers’ comments about centering the film around Eileen, the new film “Nosferatu” begins during her childhood. Elaine, her face barely peeking out of the darkness, prays for a companion to ease her troubles; Orlok responds to her call as a bad Samaritan, amplifying her grief rather than healing it. As Eileen later explains, she only cast Orlok out when she met her true love, Thomas, but Orlok never forgot her. Thomas Hutter was not summoned to Orlok Castle by chance; No, the vampire wants him dead so he can get Ellen back.

The ending of Eggers’ “Nosferatu” has the same rhythms as Murnau’s, however As Roxana Haddadi wrote in Vulture, It gains new power when a woman destroys her abuser by owning her sexuality. Depp, at least, found Ellen an “incredibly empowering” character to play (Via Deadline):

“Ellen’s perspective is one that we haven’t been able to see in such a central way like this, and Rob made a deliberate choice to make Ellen’s perspective the central one. We’re really seeing the story unfold through her eyes, which I thought was a beautiful thing, and it was an honor to play.”

I love Coppola’s Dracula and all its romantic passion, so I’m not saying Eggers’ style is inherently superior. But when a story is over 100 years old, you have to try something different every time you retell it. Eggers didn’t call the film “Dracula,” but his “Nosferatu” is an effective merging of the two competing modern vampire personas: the brutal predator and the obsessive lover.

“Nosferatu” is now showing in theaters.