With Nosferatu, Robert Eggers Delivers Back-to-Back Stealth Adaptations of Literary Classics
Director Robert Eggers has published four feature films so far: The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman, and Nosferatu Movie 2024. Although he is a newcomer in comparison to some prominent makers such as Martin Scorcese or Ridley Scott or Steven Spielberg, the audience is already understanding the kind of films Eggers likes to make.
This is especially the case with The Northman and the almost universally acclaimed Nosferatu Movie 2024, since both these movies are based on timeless literature — Hamlet and Dracula respectively. But, for a number of reasons, neither are straightforward retellings.
Nosferatu & The Northman Are Both Stealth Remakes of Classic Literature
Robert Eggers Adapts Dracula and Hamlet In Unconventional Ways
The last two films shot by Robert Eggers were adaptations of classic works of literature, although they were indirect in disguise to various extents. The Northman has way too many things that can be compared to the work of William Shakespeare. However, it is not about adapting the play of Hamlet into a movie. It shifts the notion of Hamlet toward the Scandinavian legend of Amleth, which inspired the play.
Instead of having another swashbuckling flick in the name of Hamlet, Eggers takes it up a notch into incorporating a popular story into it that is Scandinavian at its roots but not seen often in cinema.
At the same time The Northman is retelling the myth of Amleth, the parallels and comparisons with Shakespeare’s Hamlet are still present in The Northman.
It will be in order to start with the fact that Nosferatu is, to some extent, an adaptation of Dracula, or more specifically, the film made back in 1922. It was an unauthorized version, as Plagiarism Today points out. The producers behind the original Nosferatu Movie 2024 wanted to adapt Dracula, yet they were never given the rights to do so. However, that did not starve the production and filmmakers cut some portions from the source material to resolve the issue of copyright.
This attempt however was not successful as it was evident to the Bram Stoker Estate and the German courts that Dracula was, at best, a loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s hallowed novel, which caused the almost complete annihilation of the film. Only one copy does not succumb to this famine and lands in the states, keeping Nosferatu alive and became an inspiration for 2024’s remake by Eggers which specialists like Fede Àlvarez already call the “horror movie of the year”.
Will Nosferatu Be as Authentic to the Source Material as The Northman?
Robert Egger’s Two Recent Films Are Indirect Adaptations
The Northman is different from Hamlet, but that is due to the fact it is based on the material that precedes Hamlet, rather than the play itself.
The tricky part in adapting the Legend, which is able to reach as far back as Medieval times, is that there may be more than one Legend of a similar kind, hence more leeway’s may be gained.
Going apart, Nosferatu is rooted in a rather detailed background. The First One is the most basic; Nosferatu Movie 2024 was an adaptation of Dracula but at that time there was no other version save for the book.
Though certain alterations were performed, the initial Nosferatu Movie 2024 is so close to its source that it could not extricate itself from legal liabilities over copyright.
The Das Nibelungenk’s first source can also be traced in Robert Eggers’ film, this can also not be expected of The Northman which sought to reinterpret its Legend. Robert Eggers’ movies are often adaptations of literature but was remaking a film that previously existed.
There is also an indication that 2024’s Nosferatu may still pay allegiance to the original book, since there will not be any legal license issues. As 2024 is still very far off, there are high chances that Robert Egger’s Count Orlok may be far scarier, but only time will reveal how things will turn out.
