'The Lighthouse' First Look: Willem Dafoe And Robert Pattinson Get Grimy For The Director Of 'The Witch'

Robert Eggers, director of The Witch, is back with another historical horror tale – The Lighthouse. The black and white film stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as lighthouse keepers in the 1890s, and is set to premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Ahead of its debut, you can check out The Lighthouse first look below, which features Dafoe and Pattinson looking appropriately old timey and beardy.

Oh hell yeah, give me that sweet black and white horror action, Eggers. As a huge fan of The Witch (I actually think it's one of the best horror movie ever made), I'm all-in on Robert Eggers's upcoming The Lighthouse. There's not that much info about the film's plot available, but the involvement of Eggers, and the cast comprised of Dafoe and Pattinson, is enough for me. In the above pic, the actors look like they've both been plucked out of the past. And I assume the object in the background is the titular lighthouse, but I guess we should wait for confirmation on that. Maybe there's another lighthouse.

The Lighthouse "is about an aging lighthouse keeper, named Old. It takes place in Nova Scotia in 1890." Dafoe plays Old, in case you were wondering. Eggers shot the film on 35mm black and white stock, which is something no one uses anymore. The filmmaker insisted against shooting on digital and then converting to black and white in post, because that's just the type of director Eggers is, apparently.

While story specifics are still vague, we know that behind-the-scenes, things got intense. Speaking with Interview magazine, Dafoe and Pattinson revealed that the mood on set was so "harsh" that the two actors "hardly talked outside of scenes." In fact, things were so testy at times that Pattinson came close to blows with Eggers. "That's the closest I've come to punching a director," Pattinson said, adding:

"However much I love Robert [Eggers], there was a point where I did five takes walking across the beach, and after a while I was like, 'What the fuck is going on? I feel like you're just spraying a fire hose in my face.' And he was like, 'I am spraying a fire hose in your face.' It was like some kind of torture. It definitely creates an interesting energy."

A24, the folks who distributed The Witch, will also distribute The Lighthouse. There's no official release date yet, but the movie will have its world premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival. Here's hoping we learn the wider release date after that.