As beautiful and beguiling as it was creepy and terrifying, it was hardly a surprise when critical consensus labelled The Witch one of the best films of 2015.
The critical acclaim for “The Witch,” as well as the fact that it grossed $40.4 million from just a $4 million budget, immediately meant that anticipation was high for writer and director Robert Eggers’ follow-up.
That will finally arrive at some point in 2019. But all we know about the film is that it stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Other than that we have nothing. Not even a general outline or plot.
That was until I spoke to Chris Columbus last month. And even though Columbus, who worked as an executive producer on The Witch, didn’t go into too much detail about “The Lighthouse,” he did reveal one huge difference between Eggers’ debut and sophomore film.
“We have just started shooting ‘The Lighthouse’ with Robert Eggers, it is second film after ‘The Witch.’ It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, so we have a strong cast. He insisted on shooting the film and black and white and on 35mm negative.”
“He didn’t want to digitally do it. He is obsessed with that concept. A lot of people scoffed at that, insisting that no-one wanted to see a black and white movie. It was a lot of arguing to get that accomplished. But he is actually shooting it now in black and white.”
At that point I tried to squeeze some more information out about “The Lighthouse” from Columbus, but he wouldn’t even give me a smidge.
“Unfortunately that’s about all I can say. Because Robert likes to keep a very secretive head on it.”
Frustrating stuff. But if “The Lighthouse” ends up being anywhere near as good as “The Witch,” then the tease will have been worth it in the long run.
