Shadow of the Vampire
Short description
Shadow of the Vampire is a drama with horror elements built around a single unnerving idea: that the actor playing the vampire in a silent film might be an actual vampire. In 1921, the director F. W. Murnau sets out to make his vampire picture as convincing as possible, shooting in remote locations and hiring an odd, reclusive performer named Max Schreck for the title role. Schreck's behaviour unsettles the cast and crew, and Murnau's insistence on filming at night and his willingness to overlook what is happening around him become increasingly difficult to justify. The production is presented as a slow, tense exercise in concealment, with the director pursuing his artistic obsession while those around him sense something deeply wrong.
E. Elias Merhige directed the film, the second of the three features listed for him, following Begotten in 1991 and preceding Suspect Zero in 2004. Steven Katz wrote the screenplay, and Nicolas Cage and Jeff Levine produced. John Malkovich plays Murnau, Willem Dafoe plays Schreck, and the cast also includes Udo Kier, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack and Eddie Izzard, among 24 credited performers.
Made with a budget of about 8 million USD, the film took roughly the same amount at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.7/10 from 705 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 6.9/10 from 141 reviews, a close match between the two.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming took place in Luxembourg. It began on April 18, 1999, and ended in June of the same year.
- The plot of the film is partially based on the legend that actor Max Schreck so convincingly created the image of Dracula in "Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror" (1922) – the film about which the movie revolves – because he was a vampire himself.
- The film's plot is partially based on the legend that actor Max Schreck created such a convincing image of a vampire in the movie 'Nosferatu' (1922) because he was a vampire himself.
- As the film progresses, it becomes clear that the locomotive carrying Friedrich Murnau's film crew to Czechoslovakia is named "Charon." In Greek mythology, he is the deity who ferries the souls of people across the River Styx to the realm of the dead.
- The role of Max Schreck was written specifically for Willem Dafoe.
- In scenes where the actors are meant to be put in the right mood, music by John Williams, composed by him for the film "Dracula" (1979), is heard.
- The film features two parallel storylines – the process of filming and actual footage from *Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror* (1922).
- After seeing Willem Dafoe in this film, the producers of "Spider-Man" (2002) invited him to play the main villain.
- The locomotive carrying Friedrich Murnau's film crew to Czechoslovakia is named 'Charon.' In Greek mythology, he is the god who ferries the souls of the dead across the river Styx to the Underworld.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
