Robert Eggers Directing His Own ‘A Christmas Carol’ for Warner Bros.

In addition to his werewolf movie Werwulf, Robert Eggers (The Witch, Nosferatu) will also be directing a new take on A Christmas Carol for Warner Bros., Deadline reports tonight.

Eggers will write and direct his own adaptation of the classic Christmas ghost story, with frequent Eggers collaborator Willem Dafoe reportedly being eyed to play Ebenezer Scrooge.

Deadline notes, for clarity, “Insiders add while negotiations are not under way with any talent, Eggers is writing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge for his longtime collaborator Willem Dafoe as the top choice to play the classic Charles Dickens character.”

Chris Columbus and Elenor Columbus (Nosferatu) are attached to produce.

Written by Charles Dickens, the holiday classic tale of A Christmas Carol has of course been adapted for the screen countless times over the years, with notable film adaptations including Scrooge (1951) starring Alastair Sim, Scrooge (1970) starring Albert Finney, A Christmas Carol (1984) starring George C. Scott, Scrooged (1988) starring Bill Murray, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) starring Michael Caine, and A Christmas Carol (2009) starring Jim Carrey.

In the classic tale, “Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly, miserly businessman, has no time for sentimentality and largely views Christmas as a waste of time. However, this particular Christmas Eve, he will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways.”

A Christmas Carol is classically a period piece ghost story, which makes it perfect fodder for Robert Eggers to put his personal stamp on. As Luiz H.C. wrote here on Bloody Disgusting just last year, “Isn’t it weird how the single most influential piece of Christmas-related media is technically a horror story? One can even make the argument that Charles Dickens’ paved the way for the rise of Victorian Spiritualism during the following decade.”