You wouldn’t think there would be much controversy surrounding Robert Eggers’ upcoming remake of “Nosferatu.” But apparently PETA has some beef with the film’s production. Namely, a scene that reinforces the stereotype that rats spread the bubonic plague. While PETA does have a point, humans were in fact the main spreader of the black death.
They are addressing the misnomer in a very PETA way, by unleashing a giant rat in protest at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater’s premiere screening.
The scene in question used 5,000 live rats in a sequence where the rodents descend on London, bringing the bubonic plague with them. Because of this, they plan to send in a giant rat with a sign that reads; “Rats Have Rights! We Didn’t Cause the Plague!”
“A human is no more likely to be harmed or killed by a rat in real life than by a vampire, and false portrayals of these animals as harbingers of death deny viewers the chance to see them as the intelligent, social and affectionate individuals they are,” says Lauren Thomasson PETA’s director of animals in film and television. “The only ‘pests’ moviegoers need to be concerned with are directors who subject animals to the chaos and confusion of a film set, and PETA encourages everyone to see through these shameful stereotypes and give rats the respect they deserve.”
How The Scene Was Shot
Rats are wonderful creatures that get an undeservedly bad rap, partially due to pop culture. Training animals for films is also often dangerous and cruel despite the current regulations. The director and production designer have explained what precautions were taken and how they minimized the use of live animals.
“If there’s rats in the foreground, they’re real, and then they thin out and become CG rats in the background,” Eggers explained in a discussion with Guillermo del Toro. “And they were well-trained.”
“The rats. None of them were lost. We found all of them. They were all there,” Craig Lathrop, production designer, told Variety. “We built these plexiglass barriers so that the live rats would be in a controlled area.”
“In the scene on the street, the horses are on one side of the plexiglass barrier, and the rats are on the other, so that the rats wouldn’t run underneath their feet and get squashed, so nobody would get hurt,” he adds.
So no animals were harmed and CGI was employed to minimize the amount of live animals that were needed. Is it ideal? No, despite precautions, being a rat running next to a horse is probably really terrifying. Is a giant rat going to change anything about Hollywood exploiting animals? Also, no, but here is the attention that PETA ordered.
“Nosferatu” hits theaters on December 25th. You can check out the trailer below:
