Nosferatu’s resurrection was a long time coming

how so

One example is that the early vampires of Balkan and Slavic lore very often did not drink blood. They would strangle their victims or fornicate their victims to death. If they drank blood, it was very often from the chest. It was this story of obsession and love. It looked like, well, well, visually this looks like a nice poetic motif.

But then I also thought about where this folklore comes from. These are people who experience sleep paralysis when they have a nightmare of this vampiric visitation. They have this pressure on their chest. So it’s also based in some reality, although piercing the sternum with the vampire’s teeth is absurd. So it was fun to explore those kinds of things that would keep it kind of fresh, but also feel like it could be integrated into that world.

Was most of this movie made with practical effects?

I mean, there’s tons of CG effects in the movie, but you’re trying to do all the big crazy things that are usually done with CG practically. That way, you can use CG to fix things and extend things, and you’re less aware of sleight of hand because you’re not looking for what looks fake, because things that are usually fake are real.

I ask because, working at WIRED, I consider AI a lot. There’s a lot of talk in filmmaking about ‘AI can do this, AI can do that’, but I watch your films and I don’t think AI can do that. What do you think about these things too?

Guillermo del Toro’s statement that AI’s greatest achievement is to make “semi-captivating screensavers” is fair. I think AI is best used to inspire people to do more human things. So that’s all I have to say about it.

I know we’re running out of time, but I have to ask: What monsters are you going to tackle next?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I mean, I would love to see Robert Eggers’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

Maybe I should skip this joke because I’m probably going to screw up all over the place.

I mean, you already have SpongeBob has been in the press a lot lately.