Robert Eggers teases ‘Nosferatu’ extended cut: ‘More Willem Dafoe’
There’s more of Nosferatu for fans to sink their teeth into now that the surprise box-office hit has scored a home media release.
On Tuesday, Focus Features announced that an extended edition of Robert Eggers’ Gothic horror success is now available for rental or purchase at digital providers like Amazon ahead of the film’s physical media release next month.
The extended version of Nosferatu, which includes less than four minutes of previously unseen footage, will also be available on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD beginning Feb. 18. The home media release features a director’s commentary from Eggers and a multi-part documentary on the making of the filmmaker’s passion project.
In an interview earlier this month with Gold Derby, Eggers said he valued owning a film on physical media mainly because he learned so much about being a director from DVD and Blu-ray special features.
“I didn’t go to film school, and so a big way that I learned about filmmaking was from bonus features on DVDs,” Eggers said. “So I love all that stuff. I have a big DVD and Blu-ray collection.”
Eggers’ fascination with Nosferatu dates back to his childhood when he first saw F.W. Murnau’s classic 1922 silent film about the undead vampire on an old VHS tape. It took the filmmaker years to ultimately pull off his vision of the story, which stars Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and Willem Dafoe. The resulting feature is the most successful of Eggers’s career, with more than $155 million in worldwide ticket sales. Nosferatu is also competitive for several Oscar nominations according to the Gold Derby odds, including Best Makeup and Hair, Best Production Design, and Best Cinematography.
When asked what fans should expect from the extended edition of Nosferatu, Eggers did his best not to oversell some significant changes or additions.
“It’s mostly more Willem Dafoe talking about vampire theories,” Eggers told Gold Derby earlier this month. “There’s some other cool stuff in there as well. But I’d say that it’s mainly more Willem Dafoe.”
Nosferatu is now available to rent or purchase digitally. The film is also still playing in theaters.