Hawke and Dafoe to Star in Vampire Film 'Daybreakers'

IMDB News reports that theatre veterans Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe will square off as rival bloodsuckers in the upcoming film Daybreakers.

"I'm going to make a vampire picture and I'm going to chew on some necks. Willem Dafoe and I are dulling vampires. It's a vampire movie set way in the future where everyone is a vampire and we're all eating our own resources, so we're trying to get off on foreign humans. We're trying to get off of trying to create blood substitutes. It's a big analogy about what's going on now. It's really dark and weird and everybody's sucking each other's blood," stated Hawke, who will make his Off-Broadway directorial debut with Things We Want at the New Group this fall.

Daybreakers, which will shoot in Australia, will be written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig.  Actor Sam Neill is also attached to the project.

Film and stage star Hawke recently received a Tony nomination for his work as Bakunin in The Coast of Utopia.  He has also been seen on Broadway in The Seagull and Henry IV.  He is a two-time Oscar nominee for his performance in Training Day and for co-writing the screenplay of Before Sunset.  His other film credits include Assault on Precinct 13, Tape, Waking Life, Hamlet, Great Expectations, Gattaca, Before Sunrise, Quiz Show, Reality Bites and Dead Poets Society.  Film directing credits include Chelsea Walls.  He has penned two novels.

Dafoe is a founding member of the acclaimed experimental theatre company The Wooster Group.  His many film credits include Spider Man 3, Paris, je t'aime, The Aviator, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Spider Man 2, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Shadow of the Vampire, American Pyscho, Clear and Present Danger, Tom and Viv, Wild at Heart and New York Nights.

Photo of Ethan Hawke by Linda Lenzi