Broadway's Michael Sheen Bites Into Blockbuster Twilight Sequel

Broadway alum and screen regular Michael Sheen has been tapped to join the blockbuster vampire film series Twilight, studio representatives have confirmed. Sheen has signed on for New Moon, the hotly-anticipated sequel to the smash success original, based on the equally successful novel series by author Stephenie Meyer. The new film is due in theaters nationwide November 20, 2009.

Sheen was last seen on the big screen as journalist David Frost Tony Award opposite winner Frank Langella’s Richard Nixon in last year’s Academy Award nominated adaptation of Broadway’s Frost/Nixon. Sheen originated the role of Frost on Broadway in 2007, seeing the part through the show’s limited engagement at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre before reprising the real-life character for the play’s subsequent West End production and 2008 film. The actor, a regular on the London stage, has appeared in numerous films, including Law of Attraction, The Blood Diamond and The Queen. New Moon will mark his third big screen appearance as a blood-sucker, following fellow vampire flicks Underworld and Underworld: Evolution.

Sheen’s additional Broadway credits include Mozart in the 1999 revival of Amadeus.

In New Moon, the actor will reportedly play Aro, leader of a violent vampire coven fixated on concealing the existence of vampires from humans.