It was shot in black-and-white with a nearly square 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Principal photography took place in Nova Scotia beginning in April 2018 and consumed slightly over a month. The Lighthouse draws visually from photography of 1890s New England, maritime-themed French cinema from the 1930s, and symbolist art. Robert assisted the development when Max was unable to complete the adaptation of 'The Light-House', sourcing the plot from a nineteenth-century myth of a murder at a Welsh lighthouse. The Lighthouse first emerged from Max's re-envisioning of Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished short story of the same name. The film has defied categorization in media, and interpretations of The Lighthouse range from a horror film, a psychological thriller, a survival film, and a character study, among others.

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as nineteenth-century wickies (lighthouse keepers) embroiled in psychological turmoil after being marooned at a remote New England outpost by a destructive storm. The Lighthouse is a 2019 film directed and produced by Robert Eggers, with a screenplay by him and his brother Max Eggers.