MOVIE NEWS – Robert Eggers, one of modern horror’s most original filmmakers, tends to work with his favourite actors. Willem Dafoe is one of them, and he has an important role in the director’s new film, Werwulf. Eggers told Esquire that the four-time Oscar nominee plays a ruthless hunter who knows ominous secrets.

The story is set in the 13th century and centres on a farmer known as the Man, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He is struck by a terrible curse, while his wife, played by Lily-Rose Depp, desperately tries to protect him. The first trailer suggests that this is a werewolf film, so Eggers is quick to stress that he has broken away from Hollywood clichés and returned to ancient, untouched folklore.

“The trailer has made it clear that Willem is playing a hunter,” Robert Eggers told the magazine. “He is the kind of actor I am willing to dive into any darkness with, and Werwulf is that kind of undertaking. This screenplay is by far the bloodiest and most dramatic material I have ever written, and I needed someone who could convey that merciless medieval tension with nothing more than his gaze. The icing on the cake is that when Willem speaks in authentic Middle English, it sends chills down your spine.”

During an earlier panel discussion, the actor revealed that portraying the character was both a physical and intellectual challenge. “Working with Robert is always a kind of ritual. We are not merely making a horror film, we are bringing an forgotten era back to life with all of its sticky filth, penetrating fear, and destructive beliefs. This hunter is not a typical hero, but the embodiment of survival and fanaticism.”

(Werwulf – release date: January 7, 2027.)

Source: UIP Dunafilm