Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

''It's not just an homage,'' says director Merhige, hired by producers Nicolas Cage and Jeff Levine on the strength of a film he'd made as a college student. ''I'm using Murnau and Schreck as a metaphor for the cinema itself, for art making. Schreck murdered himself to become someone else.'' That description of acting sounds about right to Dafoe. ''I often seek a mask of some sort,'' he explains. ''It's a filter that frees you up so you aren't so bound to your view of things.'' GOOD SIGN A source at distributor Lions Gate Films (''Gods and Monsters'') believes ''we'd have to work pretty hard to f--- up an Oscar nomination for Willem.'' THEN AGAIN Indie fare isn't as Oscar chic as it was a few years back.