Film director, most famous for
Shadow of the Vampire and
Begotten; also has made a few seldom (if ever) screened short films. Born in 1964, he formed a
theater company called 'theatreofmaterial' which performed highly abstract pieces. An interest in primitive forms of art, combined with a frustration with the '
limitations of words', lead him into filmmaking. His first feature film,
Begotten is a very abstract piece of cinema, featuring some scenes of gore; some have labeled it a
metaphysical splatter film. After Begotten, Merhige did not make another film for nine years, apparently doing some
rotoscoping work, and returning to the theater.
His next film was Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional account of the making of Nosferatu which starred Willem DeFoe and John Malkovitch, who were also major backers of the film.
According to the imdb he is currently at work on his next film, "suspect zero".
Quote by Merhige from the World Artists website:
"Whatever happened to Search and Discovery in the arts of today? Artists must behave like archaeologists if the guts of visionary filmmaking can happen. They will have to return to the depths of the collective unknown to find out what we're all about. From that universal dream our most individual and forceful voices can emerge."