Interview: Director Robert Eggers on His Season of ‘The Witch’

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CHICAGO – The myth and fear of witches has fascinated personhood since religion and anti-religion have clashed. “The Witch” is a new film that takes that battle and puts it right back into 17th century America, when religious separatists like the Puritans tamed the New World. Robert Eggers wrote and directed the film.

The film is a fascinating combination of the psychology of fear and emerging sexuality. Using a mysterious woods against a family’s failing homestead, Robert Eggers plants the seeds of darkness with a mysterious coven in those woods, and a series of events that splinters the family’s faith and sanity. The film is dark and enabling to the witch ethos and history, which continue in other “hunts” and “accusations” to this day.

Into the Woods: Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘The Witch’
Photo credit: A24

Eggers came to Chicago for a promotional tour and spoke to HollywoodChicago.com and another journalist during a roundtable interview (non-HC inquiries are labeled as QUESTION).

HollywoodChicago.com: Part of the witch myth is that a woman’s sexuality possesses how a woman physically changes and how they then attract men. You used this theme in your film, so how do believe a woman’s sexuality scared religious folk back then, and how do you think it’s still scares people today?

Robert Eggers: I think primitive man was definitely intimidated by female power – it was clear they were more powerful and magical. So much effort in the thousands of years of evolution was in containing that power. And it’s clear in the era where the film is set that the ‘witch’ is a culmination of men’s fears, ambivalence and fantasies about women - not just sexual power, but female power.

The ‘evil witch,’ inversely, was about women’s fears of their relationship with power in a male dominated society. On both sides, it was both terrifying and tragic. I tried to make this film without a slant, but the feminist stuff rises to the top. That is our past, and I wanted to create a nightmare regarding the past, and we’re haunted by the shadows of those circumstances today.

QUESTION: So much of your film is about the unknown, the theme is repeated throughout. What did you want to express about that particular feeling?

Eggers: These Puritan settlers who came over here had a very confused relationship with nature. On one hand it was the new Jerusalem or the Garden of Eden, but also had the notion that the devil rules nature, and there are wolves everywhere.

When I was filming in Spain, everyone wanted to know if this was a film condemning religion. It’s not, but at the same time if you have a dogma that embraces darkness and light, at some point it just is part of the world. As much the Puritans were aware of sin and self flagellation, they also wanted to push it away. The more you do that, the more likely it will explode.

HollywoodChicago.com: The cast had very specific and difficult assignments. How specifically were you weeding out potential cast members when you were filling the roles of the film. What strengths did the individual cast members possess that made them the right choices?

Eggers: First of all, I was lucky to find the right investors, that allowed me to do what I wanted with casting, specifically to get actors who could handle the language and the atmosphere. Everyone I cast could automatically handle the language. and I was looking for good and hardy people as well, because I knew it would be a hard shoot psychologically and physically – they had to rough it.

Yes, they had to learn how to work a farm in the 17th century, but they also had to get along as a family, because we were going into very dark places. They needed to understand themselves, how to get out of that.

HollywoodChicago.com: How did you work with the darkness in regards to the actors who portrayed the young twins in the film?

Eggers: They were kept away from the darkness, and their parts were done as choreography. It took a long time to find the twins, but when I found the child actors I asked them to tell me the story of Little Red Riding Hood together. They traded sentences perfectly. They were possessed by the wise old people inside them.

QUESTION: How did the actors approach the script? Did you give them leeway?

Eggers: Well, they got into it immediately. They were great actors, and of course would question motivations. I was always willing to listen to that. Kate Dickie, the mother of the family, had many scenes where it said in the script, ‘Katherine prays.’ She wanted prayers for all those scenes. So we found a prayer book called ‘The Practice of Piety.’ She had this on her iPad, and she memorized all these prayers. So that was her contribution.

Writer/Director Robert Eggers on the Set of ‘The Witch’
Photo credit: A24

HollywoodChicago.com: This is a peculiar point in history, where religious zealots were the first to try and tame the American frontier. How do you think that has affected overall American social history, and what witchcraft do you think people are susceptible to today?

Eggers: Well look, I’m from New England, man, and my family background is Puritans. It survives in various forms. The ‘witch’ is always the darkness in humanity, and even secular people don’t realize that sometimes numbers are ‘god’ and science is ‘god.’ Who is to say that in the future those absolutes might seem antiquated and quaint? When we look back at the Puritans 400 years ago, we think they didn’t get it.

HollywoodChicago.com: What, in your viewpoint, were the children searching for that the parents didn’t understand, and how did that affect the outcome of the story?

Eggers: Initially, the kids wanted to be good Puritans. But losing the baby, the father’s poor decisions and the harshness of the wilderness itself makes it harder for the kids to keep it together, and they separate from the authority. The eldest daughter, because of how the actress Anya Taylor-Joy approached the role, informed the story in that she wasn’t buying into the Puritan ways. Anya, as an actor, has the ability to have people get super drawn into her, without knowing what she is thinking.

QUESTION: Given how this film evolved, and how many of the elements of the film were formulate after your initial script, will it change the way you approach filmmaking, and make it looser?

Eggers: Not really. I’m always open to collaboration, but I’m a big planner in pre-production, that’s how I prepare. And if I over-prepare, then I can take a chance on something unexpected, and let an obstacle become an ally.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your background is in the genre of horror and/or the supernatural. What, in your opinion, separates the film pretenders in this genre versus the real and deep horror or fear that a good “scary movie” can generate?

Eggers: Well, I think people start out in horror because even if it sucks it generally still sells. [laughs] While I love the dark stuff, I don’t like shitty movies. My philosophy overall is that if this horror film is actually exploring what is dark in humanity, that is cool and that is powerful. If you shine a flashlight on it quickly, and then run away giggling, it doesn’t have any staying power.

If you have a genre movie as a first time filmmaker, that creates stability. But, films that stand out to me are personal to the filmmaker, and they’re not trying to make something that they think will start or jumpstart their career. As a filmmaker you always should ask, ‘how is this the best representation for what is inside me?’

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]