Making 'Nosferatu': Corralling Live Rats, Overpowering Flames, and ...

Robert Eggers: The big confrontation scene towards the end of the film is, to me, the possession that I’m the most proud of. We rehearsed that and blocked her movements very differently. When we finally were shooting it, Lily was overwhelmed by the dress, and it did not read on camera what she was doing. Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, the choreographer who worked with Lily, and I went home that night and both of us were trying to think of something different to do. We came in onstage the next day and rehearsed with Lily. And we did have to change the camera movement to accommodate this. It became more about the face, because the movement was lost in the dress.

I was losing sleep over this confrontation scene because a little after halfway through the film, we have a competent version of the kind of possession scene we see in a lot of other movies. But then we need to top that somehow, visually and/or emotionally. According to my taste, we did. I can’t speak for audience members.

Here, the lamp on the floor, it’s underlighting her, which creates a nice horror movie, Boris Karloff vibe. But more than that, as she comes around the room in this sweeping motion before she starts tearing her at her bodice—Jarin was like, “Oh, it’s going to look like theater footlights, and here she is taking the stage.” That was helpful in designing the shot. I’ll tell you what, though: I really do feel like we should have shot a reverse on Lily in the beginning. I know it’s from Thomas’s perspective and that’s why we did it that way, but I think it would’ve been helpful to be able to have that.

Jarin Blaschke: Before he wakes up, you mean?

Robert Eggers: Yeah, before he wakes up.

Jarin Blaschke: When I watch it tonight at the premiere, I’ll pay attention to that and say, “Yeah, is that missing?” This is a case where you really needed the actors to block this scene. We did a similar thing in The Witch, and at that point in our journey, we were a little overwhelmed by that. It just had a lot of beats. How do you indicate a beat change, and how do the cameras say different things with each chapter of this scene?