Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
William J. "Willem" Dafoeis an American actor. A member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Platoonand Shadow of the Vampire. His other film appearances include The Last Temptation of Christ, The English Patientand the Spider-Man trilogy. He has also had voice roles in Finding Nemoand Fantastic Mr. Fox...
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth22 July 1955
CityAppleton, WI
trying actors tasks
I'm a task-oriented actor. A pretender. And I try to invent my process anew each time I make a new project. So I frown on any method.
world different actors
Each of the actors is quite different, but they're all living in the same world.
dancer actors doers
Sometimes I say I feel more like a dancer than an actor, because there are things implied about being an actor that I don't really like. I feel more comfortable with the word 'performer'. I like being the thing. I like being the doer. There's a factualness to it. And then certain resonances happen out of how you apply yourself physically.
actors ready best-things
The best thing an actor can be is ready. Be flexible, be ready.
character suffering actors
As you get older, you suffer fools less easily. That's why there's all those cranky character actors. I'm an exception. I'm a sweetheart.
adventure actors different
Central to being an actor is pretending, and the adventure of it all. That's why you become a junkie for different kinds of situations.
choices actors
Any actor who tells you that he makes choices, absolutely, is wrong. You find work and work finds you.
aesthetic camera letting roll taking
The aesthetic is not that we're taking a hand-held camera and we're just letting it roll and doing our thing, ... Before It Had a Name.
broader challenge inspires movies people pleasures quite simply voice ways
One of the pleasures of going to the movies for me is quite simply to see new ways, to think about broader ways or to challenge something as a given. It's usually people from outside, from the margins, that have the voice that inspires me.
certain resonance time worth
We're making up a story that has certain resonance, and that resonance does pertain to what's going on in the world. Any time a film does that, I think it's worth doing.
balance fall people rooted strike unless
Unless it's a down-and-dirty little film ... you have to strike that balance between having it rooted and having the people not fall out of it,
approach filmmakers serving
his approach to filmmakers and serving his stories.
people want passionate
I want to work with people who are good at what they do, and people who are passionate.
crazy people bully
The truth is I like the crazy ones better than the well-behaved ones normally because they tend to be the passionate ones. They never come after you if you're holding up your end. The only thing that's bad about an abusive director is that they bully the people they can.