Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson grapple with their sanity on a deserted isle in the first trailer for A24’s “The Lighthouse.” “The Witch” filmmaker Robert Eggers co-wrote and directed “The Lighthouse.” New footage released Tuesday features a black-and-white whirlwind of entrancing madness led by Dafoe and Pattinson, keepers of the fixture atop an eery black rock. The duo is “just looking to earn a living, on the run,” Dafoe’s character says in the clip.
The two guardians pass the time binge-drinking and battling stormy weather, dancing, yelling, embracing, strangling each other and wandering the ominous lighthouse. The trailer turns surreal with shots of a mysterious woman underwater and slimy octopus-looking creature behind Pattinson’s character as he beats down on a unknown victim, presumably Dafoe. The hysteria and loneliness of the two leads to Dafoe losing track of time. “How long have we been on this rock? Five weeks? Two days? Help me to recollect,” Dafoe’s character asks Pattinson.
Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman called both actors “sensational,” saying that the film is “a fetishistically authentic tale of grueling conditions.” Dafoe talked to Variety’s Marc Malkin on “The Big Ticket,” describing the movie as “a little like Hitchcock” that it also has “a certain amount of humor.” “The Lighthouse,” which had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival in May, will also screen at Toronto International Film Festival in September.
