July 7 - Robert Eggers

        

Happy 37th Birthday, Robert Eggers! Born today in 1983 as Robert Neil Eggers, this American production designer, screenwriter and film director began his career as a designer and director of theatre productions in New York before transitioning to working in film. 

  

Eggers was born and raised in Lee, New Hampshire. Years later, he moved to New York City, New York in 2001 to attend an acting conservatory. 

  

He was inspired by his childhood in New England, when he frequently visited the living history museum Plimouth Plantaion, to write his first feature. 

  

In the mid-2010s, Eggers made writing and directing his feature debut. This was twith he 2015 Canadian/American period supernatural horror/drama film 'The Witch' (stylized as 'The VVitch'). Its original title is 'The VVitch: A New-England Folktale'. 

  

The premise of the film is based on America's first witch hysteria, set sixty-two years before the infamous "Salem Witch Trials" in colonial Massachusetts.  

  

The spelling of the title "The VVitch" is how the word was written in the story's period because the letter "W" was not yet in common use at the time. 

  

An international co-production of the United States and Canada, the film premiered at the 37th Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2015. 

  

In July 2015, it was reported that Eggers would write and direct a remake of German film director F. W. Murnau's 1922 German Expressionist silent black and white horror film 'Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'. The film would be based on the Dracula mythology.  

  

The following year, 'The VVitch' was widely released by the American independent entertainment company A24 on February 19, 2016. 

  

The film received positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing $40.4 million against a budget of $4 million. 

  

In November 2016, Eggers expressed surprise that the Nosferatu remake was going to be his second film, saying "It feels ugly and blasphemous and egomaniacal and disgusting for a filmmaker in my place to do 'Nosferatu' next. I was really planning on waiting a while, but that's how fate shook out." 

  

Eggers had previously directed his high school's performance of the Nosferatu play, and was hired to direct a professional version of the play due to his work. Eggers credited this as the event that inspired him to pursue a career in filmmaking. The has since been put on hold. 

  

Three years later, Eggers co-wrote (along with his brother Max), co-produced and directed the follow-up feature of which he is best known. This was the 2019 Canadian/American black and white psychological thriller horror/drama film 'The Lighthouse'. 

  

Set in 1890s New England, the film follows two lighthouse keepers. These are Ephraim Winslow/Thomas Howard (Robert Pattinson), who is serving a four-week contract job as a wickie. The second is the irritable elderly man Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe). 

  

Over time, he two lighthouse keepers start to lose their sanity when a storm strands them on the remote and mysterious island where they are stationed. 

  

According to Eggers, the final story bears little resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe's fragment "The Light-House". This the unofficial title of Poe's last work, as he did not live to finish it. He had barely begun it by the time of his death in 1849. 

  

The film began as an attempt by his brother Max to do a contemporary take on the Poe story. 

When the project stalled, Eggers offered to work with his brother and the project evolved into a period thriller with the Poe elements largely removed. 

  

Being a period piece, 'The Lighthouse' was critically acclaimed. The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on May 19 and was theatrically released on October 18, 2019, by A24. 

  

The film was also praised for its technical aspects (notably the cinematography and production design), Eggers' screenplay and direction, and the performances of the leads.  

  

The film was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 92nd Academy Awards and 73rd British Academy Film Awards. 

  

Eggers is currently developing a "medieval epic" film called 'The Northman', starring Nicole Kidman and Danish actor and musician Claes Bang. 

Eggers is also currently developing a miniseries based on the life of Rasputin. 

  

Eggers has been active from 2007–present. 

  

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