Robert Eggers built a lighthouse from scratch in N.S. for 'The Lighthouse'

This image released by A24 Films shows Willem Dafoe, left, and Robert Pattinson in a scene from "The Lighthouse." (Eric Chakeen/A24 Pictures via AP)

TORONTO -- Looking out at the desolate, wintertime peninsula of wild rose thorns, dead grass and volcanic rocks in Cape Forchu, N.S., acclaimed American horror director Robert Eggers knew he'd found the perfect creepy spot for "The Lighthouse."

But first he had to build the titular tower for the trippy black-and-white tale, starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as lighthouse keepers who spiral into madness while trapped on a remote island with just themselves off the coast of a New England island in the 1890s.

In theatres Friday, the critically lauded film was shot around Halifax and the fishing community of Cape Forchu on the province's southern tip, in March and April of 2018.

Cape Forchu already has a lighthouse -- but not the ominous, historic and fog horn-sounding kind Eggers needed.

The team's solution: build their own 21-metre-high, working lighthouse that could shine for 25 kilometres.

"It was pretty quick," recalls Eggers, who shot his heralded 2015 feature "The Witch" in Kiosk, Ont.

"It was very herculean. As Craig (Lathrop), the production designer, said: It was everyone who could lift a hammer in Nova Scotia. And I think we had to bring some crew in from Prince Edward Island."

In fact, every single building seen onscreen in "The Lighthouse" was created by their team so they could accommodate the cameras. The scenes play onscreen in a claustrophobic, almost-square frame aspect ratio.

Such a catastrophic feel was needed -- as were the tailor-made sets -- because many of the scenes play out with close-ups in small rooms with just Pattinson and Dafoe.

The two put in powerful performances as their characters' relationship evolves. At first Pattinson's character is deferential to Dafoe's superstitious lighthouse keeper, but the dynamic shifts into a vicious and boozy power struggle.

Eggers, who co-wrote the film with brother Max Eggers, says he and Dafoe come from a theatre background and like to rehearse scenes -- but Pattinson does not.

"Rob, even just the technical blocking stuff was frustrating to him, because he really likes to be spontaneous and likes to surprise the director and obviously his castmates and I think himself," Eggers says in an interview at September's Toronto International Film Festival.

"And because his character holds so much mystery and when he does explode, it has an unpredictable feeling in the story, I think that he felt that my approach was the opposite of what his character needed."

But that tension and discomfort worked out better for the characters in the end, Eggers adds.

The result is a blend of horrifying and hilarious moments -- hallucinatory scenes involving a seductive mermaid and aggressive seagulls are defused by bits of levity, with the characters farting or speaking pirate-esque dialogue that's inspired by actual sailors' journals.

Most of the film crew was local, while costume designer Linda Muir and Lathrop are from Toronto.

"There's been a deficit in films coming to Nova Scotia for tax credit reasons and stuff, so these were the Nova Scotians who decided, 'I'm going to stick it out and make it work in Nova Scotia and not move to Vancouver and not move to Toronto' -- and they were amazing," says Eggers, who grew up in Lee, N.H.

"Our crew was ... so passionate and the work ethic was really impressive, the grips were superhuman in what they were able to do -- and in really miserable conditions."

The "punishing weather" in Cape Forchu was "an incredible challenge," Eggers admits, adding they "couldn't have told the story without it."

And, he stresses: "I really, really, really like people in the Maritimes."

"I'm from New England; they feel like New Englanders only they're friendly," Eggers says with a laugh, explaining that in New England and his current home of New York, people largely keep to themselves.

"So I would be going to a bar in Halifax with a book and headphones, which is clearly like, 'Leave me alone,' and the bartender starts talking to me. I'm like, 'Why are you talking to me?' Five minutes later, I'm like, 'Oh yeah, really? Oh, you don't say!' It's so genuine."

Residents around Cape Forchu even asked Eggers to leave the lighthouse standing once filming was done, which Eggers suspects was rooted in the desire to attract tourism.

"I think they thought that they could drive business away from Peggy's Cove," he says.

"Unfortunately it looks real but it wouldn't have lasted."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2019.