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How Nosferatu's Sarcophagus Inspired a Popcorn Bucket & an Actual Coffin
Let's talk about THE collectibles of the cinematic season.
When it comes to unique cinematic marketing, Focus Features gets a big round of applause for closing out 2024 with Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, the latest reimagining of director F. W. Murnau's 1922 vampire classic, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.
Not only is the film's December 25 release date (get tickets now) the ultimate counter-programming for the holiday season, but they've gifted the goths amongst us with major theater chain tie-in popcorn buckets in the shape of coffins; licensed an official Nosferatu themed coffin from Titan Caskets for your forever repose; and they're even selling a scale Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) replica sarcophagus to replace your master bed.
All of it is deliciously weird, creepy and most importantly, authentic! As it turns out, those tie-in coffins are based on the gorgeous and thoroughly researched creations of Nosferatu production designer Craig Lathrop (The Witch) mixed with Eggers' long-gestating ideas pulled from Romanian history and mythology. SYFY WIRE spoke to both Lathrop and Eggers about what inspired this film's iteration of the iconic resting place of the vampire, Orlok, and how it feels to have the buzziest merch of the cinematic season centered on a sarcophagus.
The ornate origins of Count Orlok's massive coffin in Nosferatu
Whether you're enraptured by the 250-pound replica sarcophagus bed (costing a steep $20,000), or are content just taking a selfie with a scale replica version of the coffin found at specific AMC Theaters around the country, there's much to know about the ornaments and iconography featured on the exterior.
Nosferatu production designer and frequent Eggers collaborator Lathrop explained that the final version of the coffin came after a lot of research, and then design iterating with the director. In particular, Eggers wanted to focus their visuals on imagery originating from the ancient Dacian people found near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. That region led Lathrop to the relief narrative on the ancient Trajan's Column which inspired the exterior of Orlock's coffin.
The dragon-head feet that keep the coffin off the ground are reproductions of Dacian dragons, which have features similar to canine/wolf heads. Lathrop said that the ring pulls are meant to look more canine and are inspired by many different sources, but primarily Roman in origin.
"For the overall casket, I found one in a museum which is an early 16th century sarcophagus from Poland for a Polish Duke or Count," Lathrop told SYFY WIRE. "There was a couple of others that I found through my same tunnel of research. You start mixing them all up, and then adding Solomonic symbols all over them to turn it into Orlok's coffin which was fun."
What is the Solomonic symbology on Count Orlock's sarcophagus in Nosferatu?
Solomonic symbology originates from Solomon in the Bible, as well as The Testament of Solomon, which is considered the foundational text for Solomonic Magic and Occultism. Eggers wanted to root much of the iconography in the film in this well-known text and symbology.
"Robert is the the master of occult," Lathrop said, while chuckling about the director's extensive research of the period leading up to production. "I was just trying to keep up. So, we would present him with certain things and he would say, 'I like this. Or, this, not so much.' As you do. We went round and round a little bit on that. And then there was a bunch of other symbols that I don't know if you even see in the film, but those were all also from that same vein of research.
"We knew that was a big theme that we had to nail down," Lathrop continued. If you're curious about where to find them in the finished film, look for the symbology in certain tomes, on the coffin and within the office of Herr Knock (Simon McBurney).
Nosferatu director Robert Eggers on Orlock's coffin becoming to-die-for merchandise
For those who may assume that Eggers and Lathrop were formally involved in the development of the Nosferatu coffin merchandise, in truth, they were not. However, they are both tickled by how their work has morphed into souvenirs that they could have ever imagined.
In particular, Eggers is even a bit mystified by the extent to which his vampire prop has evolved into beds, real coffins, and popcorn receptacles,
"I'm only pseudo aware of the whole popcorn bucket phenomenon because I'm a dork in other ways," Eggers admitted with a laugh. "But it is very cool, I have to say. Also, it's crazy because, as a kid, I thought I would be making movies with merchandise, but never once as an adult. And certainly never once I started making films. So it is sort of surreal and delightful and literally humbling to have all this stuff out there. It's crazy."
Nosferatu hits theaters Christmas Day. Get tickets at Fandango.
