Willem Dafoe takes you inside his fanaticism

Coat by Burberry London.

Willem Dafoe takes you inside his fanaticism

Writer and critic John Ortved sits down with the prolific actor to discuss the ritual of performance, falling in love with one's craft, and why Dafoe brings only a suitcase to set.

Text by 

John Ortved

Photography by
Mark Abrahams

Fashion by
Catherine Newell-Hanson

Posted 

October 1, 2018

The 58-year-old Willem Dafoe brings a penetrating depth—at once profoundly humorous, troubling, serious, and odd—to his performances, of which, in a career spanning 40 years on screen, stage, and in art, there have been thousands. Dafoe’s beguiling grimace and the unsettling talent behind it have defined Scorsese’s Christ, Marvel’s Green Goblin and countless other roles less controversial or blockbuster, in films of all sizes. Onstage, Dafoe has performed alternative and experimental theatre since the mid-seventies. He is a founding member and has almost three decades with the Wooster Group, New York’s foremost experimental theatre company. Today, he continues to surf along theatre’s fringe while rollicking in the mainstream, collaborating with the likes of Marina Abramovic on a project that is neither performance nor art nor theatre, while starring in Wes Anderson’s upcoming The Grand Budapest Hotel. He also stars in Anton Corbijn’s recent A Most Wanted Man—and those are only two of the seven film projects he’s currently involved with. From Rome, the actor reveals the tricks to his very elaborate trade: how to avoid carrying baggage, how to hold your own dancing with Baryshnikov, and why we shouldn’t trust anything we hear on the Internet.

Willem Dafoe / Quote

Willem Dafoe

I'm fanatic

by Willem Dafoe

I'm fanatic in my discipline because I want to keep those opportunities coming...

Frances McDormand / Interview / Willem Dafoe

Frances McDormand

Frances McDormand

by Willem Dafoe

BOMB 55

Spring 1996

I first saw Frances McDormand in Blood Simple — an eye opening film and a “where did they get that woman” performance. Next I saw her in Raising Arizona (a film I had been eager to see since I had badly wanted the Nicolas Cage role). Finally, I met her on the set of Mississippi Burning, where she played a battered southern housewife, and I played an FBI investigator. For her performance, she was nominated for an Academy Award.

In Mississippi, Fran struck me as down to earth, direct, and funny. Very serious and great at what she does, but I swear sometimes when I’d be with her I’d almost forget that we were actors. That’s why it was strange to do this interview because I feel we have talked each other’s ears off many times since we’ve met, yet we never talked about performing.

I’m a Coen Brothers fan—I’ve seen all of their films of which Fran has done four or five and I’ve seen many of her other films, each one wildly different from the rest. Among them: Sam Raimi’s Darkman, Ken Loach’s Hidden Agenda, Robert Altman’s Short Cuts, and John Boorman’s Beyond Rangoon. Strong directors and not a formula picture in the lot.

Willem Dafoe / 'I'm not supposed to be in this movie'

Willem Dafoe

'I'm not supposed to be in this movie': Why Willem Dafoe took a left turn so late in the game with The Florida Project - Kernels podcast interview

'When I start a movie I'm scared to death'

A fortnightly deep dive into film and television

25 October, 2017

How do films make you feel? The Independent gets personal about cinema and TV with actors, directors, cinematographers and other people from the continually evolving world of "content" in a new fortnightly podcast hosted by Culture Editor Christopher Hooton.

"I'm not supposed to be in this movie." A character actor with an extraordinary filmography, Willem Dafoe sits down to discuss why he's taken such a left turn and defied "traditional career wisdom" so late in his career with new indie The Florida Project, which mostly stars non-actors. He also talks about his theatre work with The Wooster Group, how he feels about all the superhero blockbusters and why he's still "scared to death" when starting a movie.

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