Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu and Tim Burton’s 1992 Movie Are Eerily Connected
Both flicks used very unexpected sources as their inspiration.
Robert Eggers’ latest hit Nosferatu never hid its intention to reimagine an old and very particular story in a more modern way, but the director took his time to expand the movie’s cinematic influence.
Primarily based on a 1922 German film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, Eggers’ modernised version follows its predecessor’s gothic and pretty much obscure style, yet, unlike what everyone might have thought, the original movie isn’t the only one to make an impact. Surprisingly, even Tim Burton’s superhero film actually has a lot to do with it.
Robert Eggers Used Tim Burton’s Batman Returns as Inspiration for Nosferatu
Both movies might seem to be from completely different cinematic universes, but their stories actually gave a huge incentive for one another.
Talking about Nosferatu on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Eggers revealed that, though the entire movie is definitely a remake of the 1922 classic, he also had Batman Returns’ gloomy atmosphere on his mind while working on his latest release.
Moving on to the part about his personal influences apart from original Nosferatu, Eggers mentioned Tim Burton’s Batman Returns saying that “it's kind of crazy, I was watching on one of these flights, I threw on Batman Returns and the snowy, gothic, atmosphere of that movie is, it’s quite like, shockingly similar to a lot of what we were doing here, which is something I never really considered at all”.
Surprisingly, Batman Returns Has a Nod to Nosferatu Too
Well, not the one that Eggers has just introduced to the world, but still. During the conversation, the podcast’s host Josh Horowitz highlighted that Burton’s movie has a character named Max Shreck, which is the exact name of the actor who played Count Orlok in 1922’s Nosferatu.
Eggers then continued, reflecting on more surprising parallels between the two stories and saying “It sure does, and Wayne Manor doesn't look a hell of a lot different than Grünewald Manor”, thus comparing Bruce Wayne’s house in Batman Returns and Count Orlok’s newly purchased mansion in Nosferatu.