Robert Eggers Is Not Interested In Making A Contemporary Film Where He Would Have To Shoot A Car Or Cellphone: “Makes Me Ill”

deadline.com:

Never say never, but Nosferatu filmmaker Robert Eggers is pretty much dead-set on not making a contemporary movie. The auteur — whose pics have spanned 1630’s and 1890’s New England (2015’s The Witch and 2019’s The Lighthouse, respectively), the Viking Era (2022’s The Northman) and now 1830’s Transylvania (four-time Oscar-nominated Nosferatu) — said in a recent interview with Rotten Tomatoes that the thought of such a project makes him feel “ill.” “The idea of having to photograph a car makes me ill,” he began. “And the idea of photographing a cellphone is just death.

And to make a contemporary story you have to photograph a cellphone — it’s just how life is — so no.” When asked to specify the “ceiling” of which time periods Eggers would fancy traveling to, he answered: “I don’t know.

I might go potentially to 1950 but before World War II is more inviting for my imagination.” Eggers has previously expressed this sentiment, though he is not alone in being averse to phones when it comes to the filmmaking process.

Colleagues like Denis Villeneuve and Quentin Tarantino have banned cellphone usage on their sets to hone in on production, while others have lamented smartphones’ encroachment on making good movies or otherwise impeding the cinephile’s viewing experience.