Barely released in cinemas, the Nosferatu by Robert Eggers is already good for a long version, teased by the director.
On December 25, the Nosferatu by Robert Eggers, a remake of the eponymous films by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Werner Herzog, was released on French screens. A date not conducive to success for a film which has nothing of a Christmas comedy, at a time when the public prefers to celebrate or rewatch Love Actually for the 52nd time (especially Antoine and Judith).
Yet, the horror film created a surprise by achieving a start beyond expectationsand is not immune to a nice little success, in the long term. Riding the wave of an effective promotional campaign, director Robert Eggers has just announced that the vampiric adventures of Lily-Rose Depp, Nicolas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe and Bill Skarsgård will not stop there, sincea long version will soon be released…
Nosferatu there?
It would seem that this is now the obligatory passage for any production that gets a little attention. The announcement of a long version, as was the case for the Napoleon by Ridley Scott or the Rebel Moon by Zack Snyder (to name just a few) has almost become a marketing argument in itself.
The principle of “director’s cut”, a prestigious stamp affixed to film versions having been truncated by the studios for theatrical release then subsequently reworked according to the vision of their director, has become very popular in recent years, and has finally extended to a principle less demanding: that of simply fish out all the scenes cut from a film to deliver a version that is not necessarily better (the sweet scenes in the montage are generally so for good reasons), but which pleases completionists.
And now Robert Eggers also draws this card for his Nosferatuwhich already lasts 2h12. This is in an interview withEsquire UK that the director mentioned a scene present in the trailer but not in the cinema version, and took the opportunity to make this announcement:
“The first shot is funny because it’s the kind of thing that annoys moviegoers: he’s not in the movie. It’s a very cool shot, we really liked it, but the scene in which he took part threw up the suspense regarding Bill’s presence [Skarsgård]at the very moment when it needed to be made more mysterious. But if you ever buy the Blu-Ray, you will see it in the extended version of the film.
It would therefore seem that the long version of the film is intended for the bonuses of the Blu-Ray editionand can satisfy the most invested fans from the comfort of their home. Robert Eggers, for his part, did not miss the opportunity to advertise the physical edition through this argument, even if he curiously admits, at the same time, that this scene (and therefore perhaps the other cut scenes) diminishes the quality of the film.
This long version therefore risks being more of a gadget aimed at taking advantage, for curiosity, of all the images having been shotrather than a more accomplished and more faithful vision of the work imagined by the director. It will also, undoubtedly, be an opportunity to take advantage of more footage from Bill Skarsgård in the shoes of the terrible Count Orlok, since he ultimately appears very little in the cinema version. See you (probably) in a few months to discover the Blu-Ray edition and this famous long version.
