Gothic horror film Nosferatu has become a huge hit (Image: Focus Features)
Willem Dafoe, one of the stars of Robert Eggers’ gothic horror Nosferatu, has criticised following the film’s release.
The actor plays the eccentric Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz in the film, which hit UK cinemas on New Year’s Day. The plot revolves around a woman who finds herself linked to an evil entity and is a remake of the 1922 silent film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.
Dafoe is no stranger to the horror and thriller genre, having previously starred in the highly controversial Lars von Trier film, Antichrist. The 2009 movie gained notoriety for its graphic portrayal of genital mutilation.
While speaking on The Louis Theroux podcast, the 69-year-old actor defended the film, arguing that it was ‘misidentified’ by audiences.
“I think it gets misidentified because of some of its extremeness, but I think it really speaks to interesting things about women’s power, men’s fear of women, the struggle between the logical and the magical in life. There’s lots of sexual politics in it, and it’s not about misogyny at all,” he said.
Willem Dafoe stars in Nosferatu alongside Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult (Image: Focus Features)
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“I think he [Von Trier] identifies with the women more than the man. I can tell you because I play the straight, logical one in the movie… But I think he’s genuinely curious and he’s a great filmmaker. So, you know, the opening of that movie and the epilogue of that movie is great cinema.”
The star also slammed for contributing to a ‘lack of nuanced discussion’ in film critique following the release of Nosferatu, reports .
“Listen, there’s this problem where we reduce these things that are very complex to kind of the warts, you know? And then that’s what goes out,” he remarked, referring to the oversimplification of films like Antichrist.
“It’s particularly a problem as real film criticism disappears and gives way to short form and influencers and all that. There’s not the dialogue that some films of sophistication deserve.”
“And you can say, ‘Ah, shut up be an actor, make a movie,’ but I think it’s a problem because it’s starved cinema a little bit, that the high-minded cinema actually makes way for the popular cinema.”
Nosferatu is out in cinemas now