Trivia: The movie was filmed in a full-frame aspect ratio and in black and white in order to help put the audience into the film. The aspect ratio was chosen in to make the film feel more confined and closed in. And it, along with the black and white filmstock, also helps the film feel aged and older.
Trivia: Originally, there were going to be several scenes with graphic male nudity, including a scene that match-cut the lighthouse and the erect penis of one of the lead characters. The producers were able to use these as a bargaining chip... they would let Robert Eggers shoot the film in full-frame black-and-white as he envisioned... as long as he cut the nudity, since it would get them an NC-17 rating. Eggers has since admitted the scenes involving male nudity were misjudged and "juvenile."
Trivia: Willem Dafoe originally was meant to be missing an eye and several fingers, and have an old-fashioned peg-leg. This was changed because director Robert Eggers worried people would assume he was a pirate giving the film's nautical themes.
Trivia: Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson had both reached out to director Robert Eggers after seeing his film "The Witch," wanting to work with him. Dafoe even saw "The Witch" two days in a row... going once by himself, then forcing his wife to come with him to see it the following day because he loved it so much. It just-so-happened that Eggers was a fan of both actors and wanted to work with them... and he realised they would be a perfect fit for the two lead characters in "The Lighthouse."
Trivia: Actress Anya Taylor-Joy had become good friends with director Robert Eggers after they made "The Witch" together. Taylor-Joy has said she begged Eggers to be in "The Lighthouse" so they could work together again, and wanted to play the mermaid. Eggers told her she wasn't right for the part. Taylor-Joy then jokingly exclaimed that she'd "play a seagull" if it meant she could be in the movie. Needless to say, that didn't happen. (Although she was in Eggers' next film, "The Northman.").
Trivia: Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson barely spoke and essentially never hung out during filming. Although it was not for some method acting reason or anything like that. Filming was very hard due to the extreme conditions, and they simply were too exhausted to chat most of the time, instead choosing to conserve their energy for filming. They eventually got to know each other after filming had wrapped.
