Director Robert Eggers Says His Brutal Medieval Horror Movie Werwulf Discards Overdone Hollywood Clichés

Focus Features has released the first photo from Nosferatu director Robert Eggers’ next period horror film, Werwulf, which can be seen below. In his first interview about Werwulf, Eggers told Esquire how his film will be unlike any other werewolf movie and also revealed details about the characters played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp, both of whom previously starred in Eggers’ Nosferatu. Werwulf follows a 13th-century farmer (Taylor-Johnson) who transforms into a werewolf. Depp plays his wife and the mother of his children – Eggers calls her “the heart of the movie” – while Willem Dafoe plays a hunter. “Nobody has a name in the movie. Aside from a dog,” Eggers said, laughing. Taylor-Johnson’s farmer is “a man who is cursed. It’s a story about a man who is cursed and is trying to find salvation through love. He’s a character who is haunted and in great pain.” The director said Taylor-Johnson’s protagonist inhabits “a really brutal, unforgiving, merciless, grotesque world. More than ever, it’s mud and blood and dung and rain and pain and suffering. Aaron’s performance is incredibly harrowing. We’ll say without a doubt that it’s his best performance, and the stuff that h