Some stories just can’t stop being retold. We’re not saying it’s a bad thing, it’s just interesting how some pieces of lore keep coming back up in various forms because of how they remain relevant to the human experience from generation to generation. A prime example of this is the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol.” Everyone knows the story; Ebenezer Scrooge is a wretched, stingy man who is visited by three ghosts who hope to get him into the Christmas spirit. It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as 1843 when it was first published. And who better to take a story about ghosts and old British people and turn it into a film than Robert Eggers.
Eggers has made a name for himself for his heavily stylized horror films that take place in centuries past. It says something when the most recent setting of any on his major films was “The Lighthouse” that took place near the end of the 19th century. So a film that’s set in mid 1800’s England is already right up his alley. Of course, this is a story that has unfolded in various settings and time periods, with everyone from The Muppets to Bill Murray. With Eggers at the helm though, we’re guessing this is going to be something very true to the original Dickensian version of the tale.
Of course, what would an Eggers movie be without Willem Dafoe? The venerated actor has been a staple of the director’s last three films and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change here. Even though nothing official has been announced yet, reports are indicating Eggers is writing the part of Scrooge with Dafoe in mind for it. We guess that, you know, Dafoe is something of a Scrooge himself. But Dafoe could easily lend his acting chops to this part in a way that could give the character a distinct personality. In a world where remakes and sequels are given more priority than original scripts, at least this one is ripe for a fresh, darkly hues reimagining.
The director is coming off of his biggest box office success, “Nosferatu,” which was released on Christmas Day in the United States and proved to be a critical and commercial hit. How ironic if his “A Christmas Carol” gets a Halloween release. We don’t have any information yet on when to expect it, only that Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus will be producing.
We’ll continue to provide details as they become available and the project further develops.
