Nosferatu Director Robert Eggers Knows the Value of Gateway Horror

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You can drive a stake through the notion that the director of Noferatu is a deeply serious goth dude. Sure, Robert Eggers—who also made The Witch, The Northman, and The Lighthouse—generally embraces darker themes, but he also knows sometimes a foundation must be laid for audiences to appreciate his works. Which is to say, yes, Eggers is well aware that Nosferatu parodies, specifically the one famously seen on SpongeBob SquarePants, may be fixed in audiences’ minds as they’re watching his movie. And he doesn’t mind at all!

This tidbit came out of a clever red carpet question posed by the Hollywood Reporter; watch it and you’ll learn even more about Eggers’ point of view on kids’ TV shows. Turns out he’s a big Muppet Babies fan himself.

“There was a show called Muppet Babies when I was a kid that would play little clips of like Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera, and early versions of Cyrano de Bergerac and stuff,” Eggers recalled. “And that actually, that weird cartoon gave me exposure to a lot of movies that I watched when I was a little older with memories from Muppet Babies. So, thanks, SpongeBob.”

Nosferatu opens in theaters December 25.

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