Director Robert Eggers is slated to bring his most recent film The Lighthouse to wide release this week and in preparation for this, he has been doing a series of interviews, that gives us a better look at the complexity and work that went into this film.
Known for his work on The Witch, Eggers has built a name for himself in the horror space, and it is easy to see why. His films hs a level of artistry that goes above and beyond. From the dialogue and look of The Witch to the visual choices and brutal struggles of The Lighthouse, he and the teams he works with put their heart and soul onto the screen.
In a recent interview at iHorror, Kelly McNeely dove into his process, getting details about the process, and how the film came together the way it did. Touching on everything from building the sets, to how the story and myth were fleshed out, Eggers gives some new and interesting insights into the making of The Lighthouse.
“Shooting on location with building a lot of sets gave us a ton of control. That said, in order to tell the story properly, we chose a very punishing inhospitable location where we knew we would get terrible weather.” Eggers outlines when talking about the process of building all the sets on location for the film. ” it’s impossible to move fast as a human being under gale-force winds with torrential rain, and you know in temperatures just above freezing and you can’t move quickly; the camera is going to break down. So there’s a lot of challenges, but no one’s complaining.”
Earlier in the interview, Eggers also detailed the genesis for the idea, outlining it started its life as a script being worked on by his brother: “My brother was working on a screenplay that he said was about a ghost story in a lighthouse, and I thought that was a great concept and was hoping that he wouldn’t get very far with it so that I could ask his permission to steal it.”
For anyone interested in learning more about the process and struggles that went into The Lighthouse should head over to iHorror to give the interview a full read. The Lighthouse is currently open in limited release, with it going nationwide this Friday, October 25th. You can also read our review of the movie from TIFF, should you want to know a bit more about our thoughts of the film.
