Shadow of the Vampire

Shadow of the Vampire
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	E. Elias Merhige
Written by	Steven Katz
Produced by	Nicolas Cage Jeff Levine
Starring	John Malkovich Willem Dafoe Cary Elwes John Aden Gillet Eddie Izzard Udo Kier Catherine McCormack Ronan Vibert
Cinematography	Lou Bogue
Edited by	Chris Wyatt
Music by	Dan Jones
Production companies	BBC Films Saturn Films
Distributed by	Metrodome Distribution (United Kingdom) Lions Gate Films (United States)
Release dates	15 May 2000 (2000-05-15) (Cannes) 29 December 2000 (2000-12-29) (United States) 2 February 2001 (2001-02-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time	92 minutes[1]
Countries	Luxembourg United Kingdom United States
Languages	English German Luxembourgish
Budget	$8 million[2]
Box office	$11.2 million[3]

Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 independent period vampire Gothic mystery film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz. The film stars John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W. Murnau, during which the film crew begin to have disturbing suspicions about their lead actor.

The film borrows the techniques of silent films, including the use of intertitles to explain elided action, and iris lenses. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup, losing to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. For his performance, Dafoe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[4]