By Steve Ramos

Willem Dafoe sinks his teeth into the role of a vampire who is playing an actor who is playing a vampire.

There seems to be nothing Willem Dafoe can't do. As a long-time member of The Wooster Group, one of New York City's leading, experimental theater groups, Dafoe constantly tests his physical limits in avant-garde productions of classic plays such as The Hairy Ape and The Emperor Jones. It's here that Dafoe takes command of a stage filled with explosive sounds, interactive video and experimental lighting. The spotlight remains his to own.

A substantial film bio further confirms Dafoe's Method actor status: To Live and Die in L.A., Mississippi Burning, Triumph of the Spirit, Light Sleeper, Tom and Viv and The English Patient. Seldom has one actor created such a wide variety of characters. Even when Dafoe appears in mainstream films like Speed 2 and Clear and Present Danger, there continues to be intelligence in his work. The key behind a career that balances stage and screen, Dafoe says, is simply ambition.

"I could do theater exclusively, but I don't," he says, speaking at last fall's Toronto Film Festival. "It's not purely economic. I think there's something about me that I always felt I always had to get out of the theater. Maybe it's a male kind of ambition. I know I always wanted to feel myself against larger roles."

In Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe pushes the acting envelope by portraying a vampire who is playing an actor playing a vampire. As Max Schreck, the star of F.W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu, playing opposite John Malkovich as the director, Dafoe is barely recognizable as the pasty demon. His voice is twisted into a hideous rasp. For Dafoe, who has been long considered one of American film's ultimate Method actors, Shadow of the Vampire offers a shot at transformation. In his hands, the film's comic premise that Schreck was a real vampire turns real. For the radical stage actor, Shadow of the Vampire allows Dafoe to show a different dynamic. He is Max Schreck, or at least Schreck as we imagine him.

"Sometimes, on a film I get to exercise different muscles," Dafoe says. "It makes you more flexible because you go from one world to another. You're forced to decide what you really value as an actor. What's really important to you? You're constantly getting questions thrown in your face: Why do I do what I do? How do I feel about what I do? What am I doing? In a way, it's not paralyzing; it keeps things interesting."

Brought up in Appleton, Wis., Dafoe has become the consummate New Yorker, although the Wooster Group remains more popular overseas. He has an 18-year-old son, Jack, the result of a long-standing relationship with Elizabeth Compte, also involved with Wooster. Simply put, he has a life outside of acting.

Hype has followed Dafoe throughout his career. The acclaim has remained focused on one key aspect of Dafoe's work. His rugged face displays a range of emotions that cover every human passion. For audiences, the hope is that the challenging roles keep coming Dafoe's way.

"I don't feel like I made choices," he says, speaking softly. "It's kind of like I bumped along into specific situations. I like the adventure of acting. It's nice to go away and address completely different dynamics and completely different concerns. It cleanses you of your notions of absolute truths."

In Shadow of the Vampire, E. Elias Merhige and writer Seven Katz's homage to pioneer filmmaking, comedy mixes delicately with horror. The film legend behind Merhige's fantasy is German filmmaker F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the silent film that introduced Count Dracula to moviegoers. Nosferatu starred German actor Max Schreck as Count Orlock, a character based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Shadow of the Vampire proposes the idea that Schreck was a real vampire, intent on wreaking havoc on Murnau's set. Thanks to Dafoe's stand-out performance as Schreck, it's a premise we're willing to accept as true.

There are plenty of laughs in Shadow of the Vampire. Malkovich is droll and eccentric as Murnau. Like Being John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire allows the veteran actor to be completely silly. It's a challenge Malkovich meets wonderfully.

But in terms of comic moments, Dafoe gets to deliver all the best lines. His verve ultimately steals the eerie spotlight as the creepy Schreck. As he has done so often throughout his career, Dafoe completely transforms himself into somebody else.

Merhige pays homage to Nosferatu with his own visual experimentation. Shadow of the Vampire is a movie in love with the art of moviemaking. For film buffs who feel the same way about the silent classics, it's impossible to resist.

CityBeat grade: B.

E-mail Steve Ramos

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