Robert Eggers loves himself a chilly period piece. The director of The Lighthouse and Nosferatu has made his entire career out of tackling spooky tales set in the past in exceptionally overcast times of year. And boy, we definitely like that. While Eggers’ next film will be Werwulf, a seeming companion piece to Nosferatu, Variety reports that his follow-up to that will be none other than Charles Dickens’ perennial favorite, A Christmas Carol. While no official casting came along with the news, insiders seem to suggest Eggers is eyeing his frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe to play heartless miser Ebenezer Scrooge.
It may sound like a weird choice for Mr. Broody Scary to take on what to many is the family holiday classic. Well, you need to go back to thinking again school. The Muppets aren’t the only game in town. As written (and as often filmed), Dickens’ story is an out-and-out ghost story, will just as many spooky moments as uplifting ones. Not that I think Eggers’ version will be an R-rated horror picture, mind you. But it’s not unheard of for an adaptation to actually go the route of a proper ghost story. British people love their ghost stories at Christmas.
As I said, this movie—for Warner Bros, his first for the studio—will go into production after Werwulf for Focus Features. I don’t mind, happy to wait. If indeed the suggestions are correct and Willem Dafoe will play Scrooge, I really can’t think of a better casting. That guy has been killing it in role after role. His most recent for Eggers, Von Franz in Nosferatu, is one of that movie’s clear standouts. In any case, we can’t wait to see the ghosts of various Christmas time periods under Eggers’ eerie eye.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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