With the Needle’ filmmaker Magnus von Horn discuss using period detail and practical effects to bring out the terror in his Oscar contender.
Robert Eggers and Magnus von Horn grew up apart — Eggers in New Hampshire, von Horn in Gothenburg, Sweden — but watching Eggers’ Nosferatu and von Horn’s The Girl With the Needle, both Oscar contenders this year, they share some similarities in inspiration and style.
Eggers’ take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, by way of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent masterpiece, and von Horn’s story of a true-life serial killer in 1920s Denmark, share aesthetic vision and sense of the past as horror show.
In an exclusive video interview, produced by Mubi, Eggers and Von Horn discuss how they used period detail and practical effects to bring out the terror, how von Horn used specific color combinations on set — from “pea green” and “nightclub red” — to create the pristine black-and-white of his final image, and the cinematic inspirations behind the performance of The Girl With the Needle star Trine Dyrholm.
Nosferatu is up for 4 Oscars, for cinematography, makeup & hairstyling, production and costume design.
The Girl With the Needle is nominated in the best international feature Oscar category.
