Willem vamps with the undead

Hopeful of his first Oscar nomination since Platoon, actor Willem Dafoe is quietly confident he could give Tom Hanks a run for his money for this year's Best Actor award. That confidence has been boosted by the praise for his startling performance in E Elias Merhige's innovative satire, Shadow of a Vampire.

In the film, obsessive German director FW Murnau (John Malkovich) is attempting to make Nosferatu the most authentic vampire movie ever. To this end, he employs a real vampire, Max Schreck (Dafoe), but tells the cast he is a temperamental method actor who only appears in character and only acts at night. Murnau promises Schreck the neck of his leading lady as long as he controls his urges until the final reel.

Given leave from shooting Paul McGuigan's Morality Play, a relaxed Dafoe reveals an amiable side to his fang-toothed creation. "So good was the disguise," explains Dafoe, "that initially I had to eat alone. The crew were simply not comfortable about eating lunch with me." That, though, was the least of his problems. The elaborate costume, including a corset and long, pointed fingernails, caused havoc whenever Dafoe had to take a leak. "I really needed a loving assistant to help in that department, but sadly none materialised," he says with a smile.

Dafoe was chuffed to be offered the vampire role and even more intrigued that Malkovich was to play the obsessive director. "I'd always admired John's work," he says "and thought it was great casting. I mean he even looks like Murnau. I knew him a little, he's fun to work with and has a great sense of humour."

Another plus was the chance to get to grips with Catherine McCormack, who spent three days being bitten on the neck by Dafoe, an experience she described as "very pleasant". Was there a mutual attraction? "It was ... fun,' says Dafoe, choosing his words carefully. "Catherine's a lovely girl. What more can I say? I won't bite and tell." A wise move that, since Dafoe's long-term partner Elizabeth LeCompte might have something to say otherwise. The couple met, memorably, 23 years ago in Manhattan. Dafoe thought he'd secured a plum theatre role but Elizabeth, in taking over the production, offered it to another actor. When Dafoe turned up unawares to rehearsal, a barbed Elizabeth shouted "I don't know who the f*** this guy is, but get him out of my house!" Naturally, that was the start of a fruitful relationship, spawning many Wooster Group theatre productions, as well as a son, Jack.

At 45, Dafoe has made productive use of his distinctively chiselled looks. It's a far cry from his first film job as an uncredited extra on Michael Cimino's ill-fated epic Heaven's Gate (1980). He went on to play Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, got into kinky clinches with Madonna in Body of Evidence, played a guilt-ridden drug-dealer in Light Sleeper, Sergeant Elias in Platoon and principal baddie in Speed 2. Recent roles in The English Patient, eXistenZ and American Psycho have followed and, in March, Dafoe will be seen in Steve Buscemi's tough prison drama, Animal Factory. He never seems stuck for work. "I can afford to be choosy," he muses, "and choose to be so. The studios don't take many risks so I tend to find more wide-ranging roles in the independent sector."

Next up is the part of the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's adaptation of Spider-man, a part offered to Dafoe's Vampire co-star Malkovich who had fallen out with producers, suggesting initially it wasn't his genre but later conceding that "what they offered wasn't an inducement for me to do it". That, perhaps, is hardly surprising, given Malkovich's love of a hefty pay-cheque, but Dafoe was more than happy to play a mad villain out to terrorise Tobey Maguire's nerdy student.

Dafoe's career seems to be a balancing act between film and theatre, which spawns an analogy that could have come from the car salesman in The Fast Show. "Theatre to me is like the wife you love," he says. "You keep revisiting the same situation over and over but it's enriching, there's more religiosity, spirit and discovery, while films are like these exotic mistresses who coax you into enticing situations for a day or so. After Spiderman, I head back to New York as there are theatre projects I want to develop and after that, well who knows."