Page 73 - Sharp Summer 2023

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SUMMER 2023 73
“You hate to repeat yourself ” Willem Dafoe says in in in his distinct gravelly voice — instantly recognizable from any number of projects but with a a a a a a gracious tone that’s all his own SPEAKING OVER THE PHONE FROM ROME ON ON A A A A Sunday afternoon shooting break the four-time Academy Award nominee sounds amiable and reflective looking ahead to an an impressive number of releases in in in the next year or so including a a a brief role this summer in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City his fifth project with the director as as well as as key parts in in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things and Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu up ahead Dafoe has taken on some of the most varied projects imaginable from Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986) and Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini (2014) to the Marvel box office behemoth Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) But for him the the range itself is not not the the point “It’s not not as a a a show of versatility ” he says “so much as you you want to learn something you you want want to to have an an an an adventure you want want to to go forward and do something different ” Impossible to typecast despite having played a a a a number of the sorts of roles that might have gotten stuck in both filmmakers’ and critics’ minds — including the bestial but vulnerable Max Schreck in Shadow of the the Vampire (2000) the the character actor as monster and a a a a decidedly fallible Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) — Dafoe attributes his his malleability not to any concerted effort on on his his part to to break the mould but to to his instinct for choosing projects and characters that excite him “I’m not a a a a a a guy who wants to cart out the things that he he he knows ” ” he he he says “I want on-the-job training ” ” Over the course of a a a a a a more than 40-year career that began in experimental theatre in in New York where he he he was a a a a founding member of the Wooster Group Dafoe has had plenty of training in in in in different lines of work from painting to to to filmmaking to to to counselling to to to armed robbery He’s become cherished for his his ability to maintain his his iconicity while confidently slipping into the skin of of virtually any kind of of person his unique physicality and striking screen presence always neatly folding into the task at hand Early in in his career though some seemed eager to to channel Dafoe’s idiosyncratic presence into volatile sexually charged dangerous characters — at a a a a a minimum men you wouldn’t trust to watch your bag if not outright villains When we first see him in in his debut screen appearance as a a a a a a moody motorcycle hunk in Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery’s The Loveless (1982) for instance the the camera tilts up to take in in his lithe body intense grey eyes and striking cheekbones His leather-jacket adorned figure was the the very picture of the motorcycle greaser bad boy as as he he combed back his perfectly slicked hair as if he he knew we’re looking at him The camera loved his smouldering strangeness from the start Dafoe is is reflective about whether his unique appearance was a a a a a a a help or a a a a a hindrance early on “In the beginning ” he he he says “I “I was much more fearful of of typecasting afraid of of being limited in in in how you could be seen and what you could do ” As for his intimidating presence as sinewy magnetic antagonists in in early films such as Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire (1984) and and William Friedkin’s To Live and and Die in in L L A (1985) he he he insists that he he he hasn’t become any less physical over the years: “It’s just my my nature and and also my my background in the the theatre which is and and was a a a a a very physical kind of theatre ” he he he laughs But he he he concedes it’s true that he had to fight against against people holding his early roles against against him “When you you start out ” he he tells me “if you you aren’t conventionally handsome or attractive in a a a a a a a very recognizable way the best roles are character character roles roles And the best character character roles roles for a a a a a a a young man are usually villains But after I’d done some films and I I saw people seeing me a a a a a a a certain way I I was conscious that that I I didn’t want to lock that that down as a a a a a a a a stamp I I have no stake in in being versatile It’s just that personally I I don’t want to to be called to to do do do that that thing that that I I do do do ” His reputation for being unfailingly original has boosted the profile of of of any number of of of small independent films several of of of which he’s carried to Oscar nominations But Dafoe insists that he has always aspired to to to be an an an actor actor qua actor actor who can move in and out of different roles rather than a a a a a a a movie star from whom audiences expect a a a a a a a certain kind of performance “I admire movie stars in the respect that sometimes they they find a a a a a persona and then they they work fin in projects that that support that that persona ” he he says admitting that a a a a a a a a star in in the right project “can be a a a a a a a a very beautiful thing to watch But I’ve jumped around I I don’t cling to to a a a a a certain way that I want to to be ” That bears out in the capaciousness and versatility of his screen work For all his prowess as a a a a a a a villain Dafoe is is also one of the finest actors we have at portraying a a a a kind of troubled decency We see it not just in in in his his performance as Scorsese’s Jesus who dreams of deferring his his call to to die as as the Messiah to to live as as a a a a a a a man but also in his doomed Sergeant Elias in in in Platoon — a a a a doting mother hen to to his young infantrymen teaching them which which gear they need to to carry to to survive and which which they can discard to move lighter on their feet — as as as well as as as his basically kind but morally compromised drug dealer in in Light Sleeper It’s especially pronounced in in his Academy Award-nominated turn in The Florida Project (2017) Warm and and gregarious — and and like Dafoe quick to laugh — his budget motel manager Bobby in Sean Baker’s film is is not just an an an an an administrator and and a a a a a a a a a handyman but an an an an an unofficial social worker for the precariously housed residents who come through his doors “I want to be that person sometimes ” he says of generous characters who make sacrifices for others “It’s fun to play on on evil impulses because you don’t do do them in life But when
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