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
strong ideas giving
When I give over to somebody's vision rather than have an idea of what I need to do, it takes me to places I wouldn't have got to by myself. I'm always attracted to a strong director.
giving stronger directors
I aspire to be an instrument of the director. I'm happiest like that. The stronger the director, the more I'm willing to give them.
character people giving
I try to attach myself to people who really inspire me, and directors who are really passionate. That way, I can give myself more fully and trust the impulse behind why the film is being made, and I can be a little more irresponsible in finding out what the character is.
hands giving people
Film is fragmented and gets into lots of other people's hands. There are a lot of pleasures that theatre gives me. You get to perform uninterrupted.
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.
beach fun interesting
Mounting those red stairs [in Cannes] is something I've done with a very different intention many times. So it's interesting any time you witness those shifts of perspective. The beach scenes were also fun. It felt very strange and very theatrical to kind of commandeer it and have La Mer booming over the speakers.
new-york thinking healthy
I'm never in Hollywood! I'm a theatre actor that lives in New York. I'm very seldom in Los Angeles. I don't dislike LA, I just don't think it's a very healthy place for me to be all the time. When I'm shooting a movie there and am working I'm perfectly happy. But when I'm not working or engaged in something it's a place that I wouldn't live.
interesting sometimes capitalist
Sometimes you make very interesting movies that aren't meant for everybody. But this is a capitalist society, so everything conspires to put value on whether it sells or not.