Episode description

**For this History This Week special feature, Sally interviews director Robert Eggers about his new historically inspired film, Nosferatu.**

Winter, 1476. Vlad III is a prince in Wallachia, in present-day Romania. He is a violent man, so violent that he earns the nickname "Vlad the Impaler." He also has another name that he inherited from his father: Dracula.

Dracula is constantly fighting for his crown, but today, that fight will come to an end. His headless body will be discovered in a marsh, stuck down by his enemies. But his legend will live on.

Dracula pops up in stories throughout Europe over the next few centuries, until author Bram Stoker decides to combine this legend with the latest fictional craze, vampires. His book, Dracula, becomes the king of the genre. It inspires numerous adaptations, including a silent film called Nosferatu. It's considered one of the most important horror movies in history.

Over 100 years later, director Robert Eggers has reimagined the original Nosferatu and adapted it for a modern audience. In a conversation with Eggers, we asked, how did he make a blood-sucking monster feel like a historical figure? And where do vampires fit into our lives today?

Special thanks to Robert Eggers, director of Nosferatu. We also used a great book to help research this episode, Dracula: Prince of Many Faces, by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally.

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