Robert Eggers is Planning a ‘Christmas Carol’ Adaptation

It’s early days for this one, which is in development at Warner Brothers (somewhat surprising given that much of Eggers’ prior output has been for Universal arm Focus Features), and little word on what his plan is to make the story his own, but Deadline mentions a less-than-shocking early casting choice.

While no official offers have gone out, it appears Eggers is ready to work again with Willem Dafoe, who has appeared in every one of the director’s movies since ‘The Lighthouse.’ If Eggers has his way, Dafoe will play Scrooge, the central figure of ‘Christmas Carol’ (more on that below).

Related Article: ‘Nosferatu’ Filmmaker Robert Eggers to Stick With Horror for New Movie ‘Werwulf’

What’s the story of ‘A Christmas Carol’?

1992’s ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol.’ Photo: Walt Disney Pictures.

If you haven’t heard of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ we can only assume you’ve somehow been buried beneath a fallen festive tree.

Dickens’ novella was first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech.

It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man whose life has led to him becoming an elderly miser with no time for Christmas traditions or even much human empathy.

A shrewd businessman, he thrives on evicting tenants from the properties he owns and keeps his clerk, Bob Cratchit, working in poverty and cold conditions.

One Christmas Eve, he’s visited by the specter of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he must change his ways, lest he suffer the same fate as Marley: condemned to wander the world as a spirit, wrapped in chains and heavy, ghostly cash boxes.

Marley has organized a redemptive chance for Scrooge –– he’ll encounter three further spirits, representing Christmas Past, Present and Future, all of whom show him visions intended to teach him the lessons of Christmas.

Scrooge scoffs at the idea, but on his journey with the three ghosts, he sees where his life choices have led him, his negative impact on the world now, and what that might mean going forward.

Spoiler alert! He’s terrified and chastened, resolving to do better in future, and indeed becomes, in Dickens’ words, “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”

Dickens’ work is a moral fable, at once embracing the Christmas traditions (carols, cards and more) that were becoming popular at the time, and helping to spread them further.

It has been adapted countless times for screens both big and small, including famous versions such as a 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim, a 1984 TV movie with George C. Scott, and Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 performance capture CG take, in which Jim Carrey plays Scrooge and a variety of other characters.

Two perennial favorite versions? The Bill Murray-lead ‘Scrooged’ from 1988 and 1992’s ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol,’ boasting Michael Caine as the main character alongside the fuzzy icons.

What Eggers has planned remains to be seen, though we’d hazard a guess at fewer singing vegetables and more of a mood along the likes of the dark 2019 TV adaptation from Steven Knight, with Guy Pearce playing Scrooge.

Dafoe feels like a solid choice for Scrooge, but will the director maintain another recent tradition and hire a Skarsgård for a role? There are plenty of others in the family waiting in the wings after Alexander appeared in ‘The Northman’ and Bill buried himself under prosthetics for ‘Nosferatu.’

What else does Robert Eggers have in development?

Director Robert Eggers on the set of his film ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC.

Eggers has been juggling a few projects, but it appears that ‘Werwulf’ is at the front of the line. We don’t know much about the movie, but the title certainly points to some hairy, howling horror.

Elsewhere, he’s got a few other movies bubbling away.

Here’s what he told Indiewire about his process:

“[Medieval movie ‘The Knight’ is] on a shelf with a lot of screenplays. I have five things going on, because you never know what’s going to work, what’s going to appeal to people, what’s going to be greenlit. This movie [‘Nosferatu’] was not greenlit three times. I absolutely thought I was making a movie that has not gotten greenlit twice instead of this, so you never know. You’ve got to have a lot of stuff going on.”

There is also a sequel to 1986 fantasy adventure ‘Labyrinth’, which is still floating around somewhere.

When would Robert Eggers’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ haunt theaters?

This is the first anyone has heard of Eggers’ plan to adapt the Christmas tale, and with ‘Werwulf’ most likely the next project for the filmmaker to shoot, we’re expecting to wait at least a couple of years for ‘A Christmas Carol’ to find screens –– assuming it doesn’t get leapfrogged by another project.

Right now, ‘Werwulf’ is scheduled for release in the ‘Nosferatu’ slot, which is to say December 25th, in 2026.

(L to R) Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, director Robert Eggers, Willem Dafoe, and Anya Taylor-Joy at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘The Northman.’

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