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
character people important
I don't want people to know anything about me, because that's not important. I'm more interested in the me that takes shape through the characters.
important-relationships important males
I've never had any close male friends. The most important relationships in my life have always been with women.
style important directors
The director's very important to me, particularly when the director has a recognizable style.
games people important
I feel like it's important to be flexible, particularly when I'm coming in late in the game and I'm connective tissue in the story. I'm not at the very center. It's important for me to have a certain kind of flexibility and try to help people do what they need to do.
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.