Pop superstar-turned-actor Harry Styles was supposed to star in a remake of 1922's Nosferatu alongside Anya Taylor-Joy – but canceled at the last minute.
Speaking to the New Yorker, the director Robert Eggers – best known for The Witch, The Lighthouse, and his upcoming movie, The Northman – revealed that Styles pulled out due to scheduling contracts. The remake of F. W. Murnau’s silent vampire film follows Count Orlok of Transylvania, a vampire looking to buy a house in Germany and who then becomes falls in love with the real-estate agent’s wife. It's unclear who Styles would have played, but it would have been pretty cool to see Styles take on the notoriously creepy vamp.
Though the casting was kept under wraps, rumors had swirled back in 2021 that Styles was signed on to a film project with Eggers. One social media user claims that they shared a photo of Styles walking with Eggers in Prague back in 2021, but was asked to remove the image.
According to the Prague Reporter, Eggers registered the film with the Czech Film Fund last year – so production still might be a go. Eggers told Den of Geek in February that the movie is still planned, and that he and Taylor-Joy speak about it quite a bit.
Styles stars in the upcoming romantic drama My Policeman, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, and plays the husband of a frantic 1950s housewife (played by Florence Pugh) in Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling.
Both Styles films are due out this year. For more on what's to come in 2022, check out our list of upcoming movies.
