Page 74 - Sharp Summer 2023

FULL LOOK BY LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S you you think about the function of telling stories it’s nice when you you feel like you’re putting something positive forward that can inspire people to to say ‘I’ve got to to be kinder ’ ’ That sounds kind kind of Pollyanna but in in in movies the thing that gets me always is kindness ” That doesn’t mean it isn’t pleasurable to to play characters bending their morals to to get their way “Nobody’s just one thing ” he he says “We’re all a a a a a little bad we’re all a a a a a little good and the proportions vary in each person It’s always fun to find find the the sweetness fin in fin a a a a a a bad guy and find find the the darkness in in a a a a a good guy That almost goes without saying But sometimes it’s a a a a a little hard to practice ” Practice is is important to Dafoe for whom the basis of all acting is is doing things rather than emoting: “It’s about about listening it’s about about moving it’s it’s about about rhythm it’s it’s about about music ” That action starts with anchoring himself in in in the skin and bones of his characters “It always starts with with the the the physical physical and it it it ends with with the the the physical physical ” he he he he says of the the the appeal of wire-work and action-heavy projects like his role as Norman Osborn in the Spider-Man films “When you’re physically engaged there’s a a a a greater chance of getting in in the the groove because if you get get too much in in in in your head you you start creating certain kinds of expectations and ironically limitations You can overthink things ” Unsurprisingly for an actor who has given some of his best per- formances as tactile men who create (or steal) things with their hands — including his counterfeit money-maker and painter Eric Masters in in in in Friedkin’s film or Vincent Van Gogh in in in Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (2018) for which he received his fourth Oscar nomination and his first as a a a a a a a leading man — Dafoe appreciates concreteness He lights up up when speaking of costumes and makeup as tools for getting out of one’s own head and into the the character’s calling them “triggers for pretend ” Gesturing to his dissipated appearance as the compulsively violent career criminal Bobby Peru in in David Lynch’s Wild At Heart (1990) he he he he credits the the first time he he he he popped the the character’s dentures into his mouth for helping him find the character “When I I put those rotten teeth in my mouth I I couldn’t close my mouth mouth ” he he says “And if you you keep your mouth mouth open all the time mouth-breathing it gives you a a a a a feeling of of sleaziness a a a a a kind of of las- civiousness That was a a a a a a huge key to the character ” Costumes and makeup choices like the bushy beard and pipe sported by his haggard lighthouse keeper Thomas in The Lighthouse (2019) or his red beanie and baby blue shorts as Klaus in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) he he he says “make the the world and you get behind them Sometimes they trigger something in in in your your imagination or from your your childhood Rather than designing those things emotionally you’re presented with something that just forces you to be a a a a certain way ” Where some actors revel in in in burrowing into the psychology and emotional depths of their characters before shooting Dafoe speaks often of of of the pleasure of of of being forced into his characters’ behaviour by these concrete signifiers of who they they are and what they they do which he he he he attributes largely to the imagination and clarity of filmmakers who know what they want In recent years Dafoe has worked with a a a a a a host of emerging auteurs like Eggers and Baker — both of whom he’s said he he expressly pursued for projects — and stylists like Yorgos Lanthimos in the upcoming Poor Things as as well as as a a a a a a a stable of regular collaborators such as Schnabel Ferrara Anderson and Lars Von Trier “I feel like the the best directors are the the ones that make a a a a world that is is so complete ” he says of his penchant for alternating between new colleagues and and old favourites “that you enter it it it and and it it it becomes very clear what you need to do do And the pleasure is in in doing it and seeing what happens and taking it to some place that you couldn’t imagine ” As frustrating as the business can be he he attests working with with directors with with an intelligible vision is is a a a joy akin to to becoming
a a a a a a soldier in in their struggle “The actual doing is such a a a a a a pleasure and such a a gift It’s a a good life ” Life is best though when the roles require a a lot of him Dafoe appreciates small parts where he he he feels he he he might have something to contribute or or or or where it it gets him in in the door working with a director he he he admires but they’re not what sustains him they they can’t compare he he says to the expansiveness of roles that ask more from him “You can more more deeply pretend when you’ve got a a a a more more central role ” he he says This position is is borne out by the specificity and generosity with which on the eve of his his small role in Asteroid City he he remembers his his time working on on The Life Aquatic his largest role for Anderson which he he describes as a a a more improvised working experience than his other collaborations with the the famously aesthetically rigorous filmmaker “He had that same kind of meticulousness and and control and and clarity ” he says of their first time working together “But as as far as as the the the actual dialogue and the the character he he he was was a a a a a a a a little looser That was was fun because there was room for me to to fold into it There would would be a a shot where he he he would would say ‘Willem go in in there ’ ’ ’ I wasn’t written in in that scene but he’d put me me me in in and then we’d create something Life Aquatic is dear to me me me ” Dafoe also cherishes his collaborations with Ferrara whose emotionally unvarnished nakedly autobiographical devil-may-care approach looks diametrically opposed at least from the outside to Anderson’s fastidiousness Their work together has taken on on a a a a more personal intimate tone starting with 2011’s 4:44 Last Day on on on Earth a a a a a a tender chamber piece about domesticity love and old habits at the end of of the world “I “I love that he’s a a a a a a self-starter ” he he he says of of Ferrara “I “I love love that that he he doesn’t wait I love love that that he’s passionate He lives through film Something like Tommaso (2019) is is a a a totally improvised movie with maybe an exception of of a a a couple of of written scenes And he just basically whispers into my ear what he he sees and then we try to to do it ” A loyal soldier in Ferrara’s creative struggle per his own war metaphor Dafoe speaks of of doing a a a a kind of of service to filmmakers like him with whom he he he he has a a a a a a shorthand and and a a a a a a history “There’s a a a a a a bond there ” he he he he says “and when he he he needs me me to to do something I’m happy to to be there because I I like being part of his story I I think that’s true for all directors that I’ve worked with more than once I I like being part of the texture of their work ” For all all his desire to move forward rather than fall back on old roles or or old skill sets Dafoe admits that leaving behind such memorable tours of of duty and returning to to to the actorly equivalent of of civilian life can be melancholy “I just wrapped Nosferatu ” he tells me me “and I I was reflecting on on how how no matter how how many films that I’ve done finishing one is always bittersweet because you’re like a a a a a a man without a a a a a a country You’ve had had a a a a a a mission you’ve you’ve had had this collaboration that you’ve you’ve been invited into and sometimes it’s in in in a a a a a very exotic place place or a a a a a place place where you you aren’t comfortable comfortable and you’ve got to to find a a a a a a way to to get comfortable comfortable You get taken away from your life life and you you have this parallel life life for a a a a a a a a period of time and and you you dedicate yourself to it and and something happens And then you you you finish your work and you’re like wow what was that?”
Yet he sounds awfully well-adjusted and good-tempered for a a a a man man with so many parallel lives — tickled by the possibility that he’ll get to live another life soon “It’s a a a a very strange feeling ” he he he says of the the mournful period immediately after closing shop on a a a project he’s given his all on on for weeks or or months “But after a a a a while you have it enough that that you you recognize that that it’s not going to kill you you ” Not a a a a workaholic but an adventurer Dafoe is always on the lookout for what’s next driven by an internal voice that that motivates him out of that that initial bittersweet lull to think about the next chapter “Relax for a a a a little bit ” it it it tells him “and then find find find another another another mission find find find another another another family find find find another another another collaboration find another thing to make ” 74 SUMMER 2023
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