Usually, you call an actor type-cast when he has played a very similar number of roles very well and subsquently is only ever cast by directors wanting to see that performance again and again and again. John Wayne, for all his talent playing one particular character, was only ever cast to play that very same character throughout his long career.

But Michael Sheen works on a whole different level and one that Brendon Connelly at /film smartly calls “the most flexible flavour of typecasting”, known for transforming himself into real life people, perfectly fine tuning more than just mere imitations of such varied real life people as Kenneth Williams, Brian Clough, Tony Blair and David Frost. 

In the last half a decade, he has played four men of completely different pedigree and beliefs but being equally convincing as all of them, Blair in particular. And of course he is gearing up soon to play him for a third time… so you gotta say it’s a form of type-casting, if in the strictest and most traditional form of the phrase.

And now comes word from The Daily Mail, that the one non-biopic role that he is known for has attracted a director wanting to see him play that part again. The news has hit today that Sheen, who has been a part of all three Underworld movies as a vampire, is set to play the leader of the vampires for the Twilight sequel New Moon.

Chris Weitz, the director of the financial disaster that killed New Line Cinema (The Golden Compass) confirmed to the paper that “he aggressively pursused” Sheen, and was instrumental in securing the £5 million from the budget to convince him to play Aro, the head of the vampires. So maybe type-casting in this case has proved to be very fruitful for him.

‘Michael’s role is so important because he’s the head of all vampires,’ he said. ‘Aro is, on the surface, a very gracious and friendly vampire, but beneath that he is a tremendous threat.’

Is he like Lestat the Vampire, so memorably played by Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire? For those familiar with these books, do inform me as to whether that comparison is fair. 

Despite my promises of getting into the Twilight series, as of right now I still haven’t read a single word of Stephenie Meyer’s work or seen anything outside of the trailer for the first movie. Would you believe… I got as far as putting in my review copy of the Twilight DVD into my player before changing my mind when the DVD menu looked horrid. Not really fair on the film, but well if garlic turns of vampires for beautiful looking skin covering juicy blood, then why can’t a crap dvd menu do the same for me?