Hollywood Flashback: Werner Herzog Took a Stab at Reinventing ‘Nosferatu’
Director Robert Eggers’ new vision of Nosferatu is in theaters, but he isn’t the first to sink his teeth into revisiting the titular vampire. The current movie remakes German director F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film of the same name — which was inspired by Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 horror novel, Dracula, but did not have the rights to the book and altered key details. The movie gained popularity in the 1960s after prints recirculated, and German filmmaker Werner Herzog set out to make his own reinterpretation: Nosferatu the Vampyre.
Following the 1972 release of his historical epic Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Herzog reteamed with leading man Klaus Kinski in the second of their five feature collaborations. Herzog’s version centers on Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) venturing to the castle of Count Dracula (Kinski), who takes an interest in Harker’s wife, Lucy (Isabelle Adjani). With Stoker’s novel having entered public domain by this time, Herzog changed the lead character’s name to Dracula from the first film’s Count Orlok, who had been brought to life by actor Max Schreck. Kinski underwent four hours a day in the makeup chair to replicate Schreck’s look, including a bald head, ratlike fangs and long fingernails. Nosferatu the Vampyre filmed mostly in Delft, Netherlands, but one exception was a scene with 11,000 live rats, which shot in nearby Schiedam after Delft authorities objected to it. Herzog filmed in both English and German with the same cast; the director has called his German one “more authentic.”
The movie premiered at the 1979 Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear for Henning von Gierke’s production design. 20th Century Fox released the German-language version with subtitles on Oct. 1, 1979. Forty-five years later, Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu gives star Bill Skarsgard an updated look for Count Orlok, opting for a forelock of hair and a mustache. For his film, Herzog has said he wanted to honor his country’s cinematic roots: “For me, it was like bridging a void, a big gap in reconnecting to the great cinema of the 1920s.”
This story first appeared in a January stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
