Director Robert Eggers has admitted he regrets “whinging” about not getting final cut on his 2022 blockbuster The Northman.

After making a name of himself with his independent films The Witch and The Lighthouse, the visionary filmmaker teamed up with a major studio for the first time to make the big-budget Viking epic.

During the press tour for the film, Eggers admitted the post-production process was “painful” because he received pressure from studio executives to make it as entertaining as possible, which went against his filmmaking instincts.

In a new interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Nosferatu director expressed regret for “crying” about it.

“I did a lot of whinging about not having final cut and all this stuff. I regret that, sort of crying about it, because it is just like: That’s how movies are made, sorry… grow up,” he candidly admitted. “But it was something that I hadn’t dealt with before and also the movie was so big that it felt like a tremendous amount of pressure.”

Eggers noted that The Northman was “a big jump” for him and his team but they now feel “comfortable” working on large-scale projects, like his new Nosferatu remake. Although the vampire horror is distributed by the same studio, Eggers had “complete control” over the movie and the filmmaking experience was “a lot more enjoyable”.

In a 2022 interview with IndieWire, the director said he knew he wouldn’t receive final cut on The Northman but it was “a risk (he) was willing to take” to receive the budget he needed for the historical action epic.

“The studio took a big risk on letting somebody (who) made two sensationalist arthouse movies to make a big f**king Viking movie single-camera with all of his heads of departments. Frankly, our resumes did not warrant us making this movie, and they let us do it, which is amazing. I promised them the most entertaining Robert Eggers movie I could make,” he stated.

“I needed the pressure of the studio to make the most entertaining version of this movie. So this is the cut I’m proud of, but my instinct is not to make entertainment… It was difficult but needed. It would’ve been a worse film in the end.”

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