The writer/director behind The Witch has confirmed that his next film will be a remake of Nosferatu. Robert Eggers confirmed the news in an appearance on Indiewire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, where he admitted that a remake of F.W. Murnau‘s 1922 horror classic—which has been in the works since last summer—was not what he intended for his next film.

“[It’s shocking] to me,” Eggers said on the podcast. “It feels ugly and blasphemous and egomaniacal and disgusting for a filmmaker in my place to do Nosferatu next. I was really planning on waiting a while, but that’s how fate shook out.”

Eggers had been a fan of Nosferatu since childhood, having been more accustomed to classic horror films from Universal and Hammer Studios as he was not able to handle scarier fare like A Nightmare on Elm Street. “I saw a picture of Max Schreck as Count Orlok in a book in my elementary school and I lost my mind,” Eggers said. He was so interested that he made his mother drive to the local mall in rural New Hampshire so that they could obtain a VHS copy of the 1922 classic. A few years later, at age 17, Eggers directed Nosferatu as his senior play, done in a German Expressionistic style similar to Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. That performance led to Eggers being recruited to re-stage the play professionally, which inspired him toward his later career.

The podcast, which you can listen to below, also features Eggers talking about how his obsession with history helped to guide the look and script of The Witch and how that will also inspire how he will be doing Nosferatu. He also hinted that he will change his approach to the film’s lead character.

“I can’t also do Max Schreck again either, so that’s fun, so it’s going back to the origins of the folk vampire,” Eggers said.

Robert Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is in development for former Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8.