Robert Eggers’ Next Film Will Be Werewolf Movie Werwulf
Robert Eggers is making his way through the monsters. Late last year, his remake of the classic silent film Nosferatu was a surprise hit, bringing in $156,786,405 worldwide (so far) on a $50 million budget. Now, he’s setting his sights on another mythical horror figure, as The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reveals that Eggers has co-written a script for a werewolf movie called Werwulf that will be his next film. Werwulf takes place in England during the 13th Century and will have dialogue specific to that time period, with “translations and annotations,” which presumably means subtitles, to translate English to English. As with Eggers’ previous four movies, Werwulf will be distributed by Focus Features and will arrive in American theaters on Christmas Day, likely to try to recapture the same success Nosferatu achieved. Eggers wrote the script for Werwulf with Sjón, who also co-wrote The Northman with Eggers. Initially, Eggers wanted to film Werwulf in black and white, but apparently, that’s not happening anymore. (You can almost hear the executives saying, “Dude, we trust you, but let’s not go nuts.”)
So, I guess we’re about to see Willem Dafoe as either a werewolf or a werewolf expert/hunter. And that’s perfectly fine with me. I absolutely adored Egger’s version of Nosferatu, and it’s only grown in my estimation since then. I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite film from 2024, and I actually resent other movies for being released while it’s in theaters because I’d love to see it again and again. (Yeah, I’m joking a little, but you get the drift.) Oddly, I’m not a fan of Robert Eggers’ other films; I didn’t care for The Northman or The Lighthouse, aside from appreciating the outstanding filmmaking. I know you’re not supposed to say stuff like this, but they’re too weird for me, and I never connected with either story or the characters that populated them. I haven’t seen The Witch, although it’s absolutely on my list. But Nosferatu was a knockout, creepy and unsettling, human and relatable, with a horrifying villain, a strong sense of the power of humanity to face evil if we’re willing to acknowledge it, and a host of fantastic performances. It looks as beautiful as Eggers’ other films – frankly, it looks even better – but it’s got the characters and story to draw you in that they lacked (except maybe The Witch; I’ll know when I finally catch it). It’s a movie with a world to lose yourself in for two hours and some change, and I’m eager to see Eggers show me something like that again.
That goes doubly true because he’s sticking with horror for now. Nosferatu nailed the atmosphere of a vampire movie, and the result was one of the most effective horror movies in ages. Now, he’s putting his spin on werewolves, and that’s great because I love werewolves. My favorite Universal Monsters movie is The Wolf Man, and Lon Chaney Jr.’s Larry Talbot is my favorite character/monster in that universe. I’m sure the werewolf in Werwulf won’t be Talbot, but he built the template for the werewolf archetype (with the exception of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde if you want to stretch it), and I’m excited to see Eggers’ spin on it. For a terrifying horror film, Nosferatu had a lot of heart and humanity, and that’s essential for a great werewolf story. Setting it in England in the Middle Ages is a nice touch, too, and a good way for Eggers to once again jump around in time. (I wonder if he does that to keep himself engaged.) After the stellar job he did creating his version of Count Orlock in Nosferatu (though Bill Skarsgård deserves a lot of the credit as well), I can’t wait to see what he does with his werewolf. Will this be a more humanoid one like Talbot, or will it be on all fours, as they tend to be presented now? I’m good with either, but if it’s more wolflike, I hope it looks monstrous rather than just being a regular wolf; werewolves are monsters and should look supernatural, not like wildlife that got too close to your car. An American Werewolf in London is a great template for that. Since it’s coming out in just under two years, Eggers has plenty of time to put Werwulf together, especially since the script is done. This will be an interesting production to follow.
Let us know what you think of Robert Eggers’ making Werwulf his next movie in the comments!
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