Director Robert Eggers is shouting out an unlikely figure ahead of the release of his horror film Nosferatu — SpongeBob SquarePants.
At the Los Angeles premiere of the film on Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter asked Eggers if he knew that the Nickelodeon cartoon introduced many kids to the iconic vampire. Nosferatu (also known as Count Orlok) made several appearances on the show.
The filmmaker confirmed he was familiar with the SpongeBob element and explained, “There was a show called Muppet Babies when I was a kid that would play little clips of Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera and early versions of Cyrano de Bergerac and stuff; that weird cartoon gave me exposure to a lot of movies that I watched when I was a little older with memories from Muppet Babies. So, thanks SpongeBob.”
Star Nicholas Hoult also weighed in on the phenomenon, joking he hadn’t seen it but said, “I’ve got to go back and watch more SpongeBob. And I like that that’s people’s introduction to it and hopefully this will be a reintroduction to it in a different way.”
Eggers’ version of Nosferatu sees Bill Skarsgard transform into the terrifying vampire, who is infatuated with a haunted young woman (played by Lily-Rose Depp). Skarsgard’s look has largely been kept under wraps in the movie’s trailer and promotional materials, as the actor said he’s “excited for this beast to be unleashed.”
(there’s more there that’s just about the movie and not the very funny acknowledgement)