This production has grown out of the fascination of writer Steven Katz for Murnau's legacy. The legendary director is remembered for many cinematic innovations, but this story is launched by Murnau's well-documented and relentless pursuit of realism film.

"Shadow of the Vampire" depicts Murnau's tyrannical treatment of his cast and crew and the mysterious events, disappearances and deaths that plague the production as it moves to increasingly remote locations.

Eventually it transpires that Murnau's obsessions have led him to cast a real vampire in the film. When, near the end of the production, the filmmakers find themselves stranded on a remote island with the vampire, they come to understand that there is only one way to survive: by finishing the movie.

:shadowscreeningpt.2:

Eddie showed up at the London Film Festival screening of Shadow of the Vampire.

:fanreview:

(Izzard fan, Randy G. sent me this great review of Shadow of the Vampire which she recently caught at the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival)

Too often the opening credits of a film are ignored or an audience simply will use this time for idle chat. During a recent screening of Shadow of the Vampire at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival a blessed silence was present during the exceptional artwork accompanying the credits. The sepia tones set the mood and timeline for the film to follow. An audible round of applause greeted Britcom, Eddie Izzard's name. I am guilty. I was one of about 20 whooping and hollering for Eddie.

The film traces in a loose docudrama format the making of Nosferatu, the first silent horror film about Dracula, by German director Murnau. The director in his quest for realism, it seems has hired what may be an actual vampire to play the lead in his film!

Mr. Izzard's performance as a silent film hack, long on ego and short on talent, is notable and very funny. And it about time he had a film in which his talent for drama and comedy can be combined. But this film really belongs entirely to Willem Defoe as Max Schreck who walks (or rather skulks away with the entire film). His portrayal as a vampire turned film actor is the highlight of the film and we follow his progress as he changes from merely a blood sucking creature of the night into a moody and demanding film actor making Nosferatu director Murnau's (John Malkovich) life a technical nightmare.

The film is flawed but fun and during the course of the film humor seeps into all corners as we watch the rag tag film crew in their efforts to follow Murnau's 'struggle to create art.' We note how the vampire no matter how scary has to endure the tedious process of film making just like all the other actors.

Eddie Izzard  (Gustav Von Wangenheim)

A genius of stand-up comedy whose concert tours of Europe and America regularly sell out and whose videos constantly top the best-selling lists, Eddie Izzard was called "the funniest man in England" by no less than John Cleese. He is also building a strong reputation as one of Britain's brightest acting talents. Among his film credits are THE AVENGERS, THE CRIMINAL, MYSTERY MEN, CIRCUS, THE SECRET AGENT and an unforgettable performance as the pop manager from Hell in VELVET GOLDMINE.

Eddie Izzard on Gustav, bad acting, and vampires:

"As you see in the film, silent film-making was quite a curious way of acting because someone is just telling you your every emotion as it comes up. I thought it would screw with my mind -- John Malkovich saying 'OK you're feeling this,' 'what did you think then?, 'who's that coming out of that hole?," etc. But actually it works, and it's quite fun really. You almost have to do nothing except react to what's happening in front of you. It's a bit like improvisation. I've done quite a lot of improv and you often have a narrator saying 'it was a stormy day and so Dr Zhivago arrived.' This is what John Malkovich has become -- the narrator of the scene -- and I'm the actor. I think you have to make your reactions much larger too. I might have underplayed it a bit because Gustav in the actual NOSFERATU had some big bad acting. He does some movements which seem very over the top now. He wasn't a good actor. He was not their main choice, he wasn't even in the top ten. So he's not that great and does seem very over the top except for when he's with the vampire. But, when he's with Count Orlock he does put in a pretty good performance; maybe he's just scared out of his wits. How to be a bad actor is quite tricky really. In the end I think I might have been slightly better than a bad actor. However, people might go 'no, you're a terrible actor' and if that happens then I've done it well because he was a bad actor."

From Izzardfan MariaK (who went to the Toronto Film Festival and saw Shadow of the Vampire):
What can I say - I was very impressed with Eddie's acting ability. It was character acting and he suited the part well. John Malkovich and Willem Defoe were brilliant.

There were several "Eddie" lines in the movie that you just couldn't overlook and the audience caught on very quickly.

There was one scene where Eddie says "I'm not happy! and all I could think of was....."with my wash" (said by a small dog). I was not the only one that had the same thought as many people started laughing immediately after
that line.

Just before the movie started we were all pleasantly surprised when Elias Merhige and Willem Dafoe showed up and said that there would be a question and answer period after the movie. I did take a picture of them but I was
so far away I'm not sure if will be any good.

Unfortunately I could not stay after the movie as I had to get back to work but I'm hoping they will put a bit of information in the Toronto National Post about it tomorrow.

I can tell you that this movie is surely the turning point for Eddie and will go and see it again when it is officially released.

SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE: On one hand, this is the JFK of moviemaking movies; this VERY fictionalized tale of the making of the classic German silent horror movie Nosferatu libels most of its real figures, depicting director F.W. Murnau as a kind of cinematic Dr. Frankenstein and actor Max Schreck as a genuine vampire! But as a metaphor for the filmmaking process itself, it's fascinating, involving, and often very funny. A surprising and gratifying effort from director E. Elias Merhige, who made the definitively difficult Begotten several years back. -- Glenn Kenny, Premiere Magazine

From Coming Attractions:
One of the seminal films of the silent era was F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the first great vampire movie. It starred a fellow named Max Schreck, who was brilliant in it, but remains a man of mystery of which almost nothing had been heard of before or since.

Now screenwriter Steven Katz got the idea that it might be an interesting speculation that the reason why no one has heard of Mr. Schreck before or since was that he was a REAL vampire living, or rather UN-living in a ruined castle in the Czech woods.

So with the joke of the picture set, he and director Elias Merhige have made both a reconstruction of how films were made back in the 1920s and a really wicked comedy at the same time.

John Malkovich plays F.W. Murnau as a man obsessed. Unable to get the rights to "Dracula from Bram Stoker's widow, he changes the name of the vampire to Count Orlov and another few changes. He and his producer Albin Grau (Udo Kier) have assembled the top actors and crew available in Berlin, but to the dismay of all his coworkers, Murnau wants to film much of the work on location in Czecholsovokia. Here, they are told that they would meet up with the mysterious Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe), who is supposed to be a method actor who has to be completely in character 100% of the time.

But the real deal was something completely different. Things go wrong almost immediatley, when Schreck attacks first the leading man (Eddie Izzard) and nearly kills the cameraman (Ronan Vibert).

Murnau isn't very happy with the turn of events.....

This is one of those films that must be seen for the performances. Wilem Dafoe is delectable as Shreck. He gives it one of those hammy performances which both dazzle and tickle the funnybone. It has Oscar nomination written all over it. Malkovich brings the his usual intensity to the part of the obsessed director, and his constant battles with his coworkers are wonderful to behold. Fritz Wagner (Cary Elwes is a blast as the replacement cameraman and ametur pharmicist to the leading lady (Catherine McCormack), who herself does a nicely done bit of scenery chewing.

All in all, this is a really fun film, just the thing for Christmas viewing. 3*

-- Eric Lurio

Shadow of the Vampire
Dir: E. Elias Merhige (USA) | Globe & Mail (thanks Peggy!)
The idea is intriguing. Suppose that F. W. Murnau, the German visionary who directed the classic Nosferatu back in 1922, had engaged in a singular bit of typecasting: The vampire he recruited was the real deal, passed off as a "method actor" named Max Schreck. Now let's visit the obsessed Murnau (who better to play him than John Malkovich?) on the movie set, and watch as he strives to keep the peace between his all-too-credible star and an all-too-vulnerable crew. Yep, a terrific idea, but the execution is a little flawed, especially in the last act. The result is an adequate horror flick about the making of a great horror flick. However, from the true nature of acting to the voracious appetite of genius, the script does raise a veritable checklist of fascinating aesthetic issues. Too bad it cheats a tad on the answers.

:lizsmith'scolumn:

Britain's Eddie Izzard had a fine time playing a bad actor in the coming Lions Gate tongue-in-cheek thriller ``Shadow of the Vampire.''

This is a movie-within-a-movie about the filming of F.W. Murnau's silent screamer, ``Nosferatu.'' Izzard plays real-life actor Gustav Von Wangenheim, who portrayed ``Nosferatu's'' leading man. (He's not the vampire; that was Max Schreck.)

Gustav was quite the ham. ``He did a lot of big bad acting,'' says Izzard.

In this movie, Willem Dafoe plays a real vampire, passing himself off as an actor, with John Malkovich as the unsuspecting director. Dafoe, with his weirdly sexy persona and minimally fleshed face, is a perfect bloodsucker, and already there is buzz on his performance. It is time for all the studios to start pumping prestigious Oscar hopefuls.