(Left) ‘Nosferatu’ director Robert Eggers. (Proper) Michael Caine and the Muppets in ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’. Picture: Buena Vista Footage Distribution.
Preview:
- Robert Eggers has his eye on ‘A Christmas Carol.’
- He’s aiming to have Willem Dafoe play iconic miser Scrooge.
- The film is in improvement at Warner Bros.
Author/director Robert Eggers delivered a really totally different form of festive deal with final yr with vampire story ‘Nosferatu’, which was launched on Christmas Day, and has since gone on to be his greatest success to date, incomes loads of essential reward and Oscar nominations, plus $181 million worldwide on the field workplace, together with $95 million domestically.
And from the sound of a report by Deadline, he’s trying to keep in a festive temper, with a future plan to go the place tons of of filmmakers have gone earlier than. No, not ‘Star Trek,’ however an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ basic story ‘A Christmas Carol.’
“Succumb to the darkness.”
67
2 hr 13 minDec twenty fifth, 2024
It’s early days for this one, which is in improvement at Warner Brothers (considerably stunning provided that a lot of Eggers’ prior output has been for Common arm Focus Options), and little phrase on what his plan is to make the story his personal, however Deadline mentions a less-than-shocking early casting alternative.
Whereas no official affords have gone out, it seems Eggers is able to work once more with Willem Dafoe, who has appeared in each one of many director’s films since ‘The Lighthouse.’ If Eggers has his method, Dafoe will play Scrooge, the central determine of ‘Christmas Carol’ (extra on that under).
Associated Article: ‘Nosferatu’ Filmmaker Robert Eggers to Stick With Horror for New Film ‘Werwulf’
What’s the story of ‘A Christmas Carol’?
1992’s ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol.’ Picture: Walt Disney Footage.
Should you haven’t heard of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ we will solely assume you’ve someway been buried beneath a fallen festive tree.
Dickens’ novella was first printed in London by Chapman & Corridor in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech.
It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a person whose life has led to him changing into an aged miser with no time for Christmas traditions and even a lot human empathy.
A shrewd businessman, he thrives on evicting tenants from the properties he owns and retains his clerk, Bob Cratchit, working in poverty and chilly situations.
One Christmas Eve, he’s visited by the specter of his lifeless enterprise companion, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he should change his methods, lest he undergo the identical destiny as Marley: condemned to wander the world as a spirit, wrapped in chains and heavy, ghostly money containers.
Marley has organized a redemptive probability for Scrooge –– he’ll encounter three additional spirits, representing Christmas Previous, Current and Future, all of whom present him visions supposed to show him the teachings of Christmas.
Scrooge scoffs on the thought, however on his journey with the three ghosts, he sees the place his life selections have led him, his unfavourable influence on the world now, and what which may imply going ahead.
Spoiler alert! He’s terrified and chastened, resolving to do higher in future, and certainly turns into, in Dickens’ phrases, “nearly as good a good friend, nearly as good a grasp, and nearly as good a person, as the nice previous metropolis knew, or some other good previous metropolis, city, or borough, within the good previous world.”
Dickens’ work is an ethical fable, without delay embracing the Christmas traditions (carols, playing cards and extra) that had been changing into well-liked on the time, and serving to to unfold them additional.
It has been tailored numerous instances for screens each huge and small, together with well-known variations corresponding to a 1951 film starring Alastair Sim, a 1984 TV film with George C. Scott, and Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 efficiency seize CG take, wherein Jim Carrey performs Scrooge and quite a lot of different characters.
Two perennial favourite variations? The Invoice Murray-lead ‘Scrooged’ from 1988 and 1992’s ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol,’ boasting Michael Caine as the principle character alongside the fuzzy icons.
What Eggers has deliberate stays to be seen, although we’d hazard a guess at fewer singing greens and extra of a temper alongside the likes of the darkish 2019 TV adaptation from Steven Knight, with Man Pearce enjoying Scrooge.
Dafoe appears like a stable alternative for Scrooge, however will the director preserve one other latest custom and rent a Skarsgård for a job? There are many others within the household ready within the wings after Alexander appeared in ‘The Northman’ and Invoice buried himself beneath prosthetics for ‘Nosferatu.’
What else does Robert Eggers have in improvement?
Director Robert Eggers on the set of his movie ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Options launch.
Credit score: Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC.
Eggers has been juggling a number of tasks, however it seems that ‘Werwulf’ is on the entrance of the road. We don’t know a lot in regards to the film, however the title definitely factors to some bushy, howling horror.
Elsewhere, he’s obtained a number of different films effervescent away.
Right here’s what he instructed Indiewire about his course of:
“[Medieval movie ‘The Knight’ is] on a shelf with plenty of screenplays. I’ve 5 issues happening, since you by no means know what’s going to work, what’s going to attraction to individuals, what’s going to be greenlit. This film [‘Nosferatu’] was not greenlit 3 times. I completely thought I used to be making a film that has not gotten greenlit twice as a substitute of this, so that you by no means know. You’ve obtained to have plenty of stuff happening.”
There’s additionally a sequel to 1986 fantasy journey ‘Labyrinth’, which continues to be floating round someplace.
When would Robert Eggers’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ hang-out theaters?
That is the primary anybody has heard of Eggers’ plan to adapt the Christmas story, and with ‘Werwulf’ more than likely the following challenge for the filmmaker to shoot, we’re anticipating to attend at the very least a few years for ‘A Christmas Carol’ to seek out screens –– assuming it doesn’t get leapfrogged by one other challenge.
Proper now, ‘Werwulf’ is scheduled for launch within the ‘Nosferatu’ slot, which is to say December twenty fifth, in 2026.
(L to R) Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, director Robert Eggers, Willem Dafoe, and Anya Taylor-Pleasure on the Los Angeles premiere of ‘The Northman.’