YARMOUTH - Anticipation is starting to build, and not only in Yarmouth, for the release of a movie filmed at Cape Forchu and inside a hangar at the Yarmouth airport last year.
The Lighthouse stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson and was written and directed by Robert Eggers. The distributor is A24.
Several film industry news sites have exciting predictions about The Lighthouse.
IndieWire has included it in its 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019.
Eggers’ 2015 film The Witch is referred to as an “astonishing accomplishment in atmospheric horror” in a Dec. 31 IndieWire article.
“The Lighthouse, a long-awaited follow-up, ventures into ambitious terrain, with another innovative period piece (set in 1890) and a promising cast.
“The actors are characters in a remote part of Nova Scotia that must contend with a new set of supernatural circumstances in a plot reportedly inspired by old seafaring myths.
“However, the real star of the show may be its elegant look: Eggers shot The Lighthouse in black-and-white 35-mm film to give it an ancient, lived-in feel.”
IndieWire co-writer Eric Kohn says Pattinson has described the appearance of the movie as resembling a Buster Keaton film.
“He also said the conditions of the isolated shoot were so harsh that he nearly punched the filmmaker. Nevertheless, he sounds pleased with the end result. Chances are strong that audiences will too: If The Lighthouse lives up to its otherworldly reputation, it might just be one of the most memorable movies of the year,” wrote Kohn.
Inews.co.uk included The Lighthouse in a Dec. 31 article under the headline: The most exciting new films coming in 2019 – the year’s biggest releases.
In the article, The Lighthouse is referred to as reputedly “another atmospheric horror that reportedly pushed star Robert Pattinson to the breaking point.
“Much about The Lighthouse suggests a similar isolated, claustrophobic terror (comparable) to The Witch,” says writer Mark Butler.
The Playlist has pegged The Lighthouse at #12 in its article about the 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2019.
“It’s very much under wraps, but the film is apparently in black-and-white, and is a fantasy horror story set in the world of old seafaring myths,” says writer Oliver Lyttelton.
He added that the film is not expected to debut at Sundance (Jan. 24-Feb. 3 film festival), but that it might show at the TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 5-15).
Last November, writer Jacob Trussell at Film School Rejects, a blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry news, and feature commentary, wrote a piece titled “What's Inside Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse.”
“Eggers is purposefully not showing his hand as to the plot of his second feature,” says Trussell.
“Knowing how historically accurate The Witch aimed to be, the research Eggers has done can only be imagined as exhaustive. From phantom ships to complex mirages, ghostly apparitions, and creatures from the sea, the myths of nautical life are as varied as they are haunting. And if we can discern anything from his work on The Witch, it’s that Eggers will not attempt to broadly touch on multiple myths, but rather needle into one that will thematically carry the film.”inews.co.uk
Trussell continues to weave several potential myths that Eggers may have expanded on in the movie.
A release date has not yet been set for the film and sources related to the production of The Lighthouse could not be reached.
Links to articles about The Lighthouse
Indiewire: 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019
inews.co.uk: Most exciting new films coming in 2019 - the year’s biggest releases
The Playlist: The 100 most anticipated films of 2019
Film School Rejects blog: What’s inside Robert Eggers’ ‘The Lighthouse’
More stories about film production in Yarmouth
March 2018: Lights, camera, action coming soon to Cape Forchu Lighthouse
March 2018: Lighthouse filming a big boon to Yarmouth economy
March 2018: Film company using Yarmouth Airport for project
March 2018: Scaffolding company's exposure rises to new heights with Yarmouth film project
April 2018: Public access to Cape Forchu property restricted
April 2018: Stay calm: Star sightings may be in store
April 2018: Hollywood Yarmouth: Cape Forchu webcam most visited of province's 80 sites
April 2018: Interest still very high in film production and in the lighthouse used in the set
June 28 Hollywood production leaves lasting impact on Yarmouth and Acadian Shores