Willem Dafoe Breaks Down His Career, from 'The Boondock Saints' to 'Spider-Man' | Vanity Fair

I am willem dafoe and this is the timeline of my career I never really decided I wanted to be an actor I always kind of thought I'd end up doing something differently and then enough time passed where I thought I guess I'm an actor I've been doing this for a while I went to school for a little while in an acting program but I dropped up very quickly and I was reading about people like the performance group the Manhattan Project Grotowski Robert Wilson so I went to Mecca which was New York there was part of me that thought I would try to be a traditional actor but I kept on finding myself going downtown going to loft performances sea dance and I got involved with a company called the Wooster group that I ended up being with for 27 years and that was my day-to-day life my first IMDB credit is Heaven's Gate but that was a very particular situation someone said you know they're making this movie and it's Michael Jimmy no and the deer hunter came out I had seen it I thought it was great and they're looking for ethnic faces the audition was you did one monologue in English and then you did in another language so I had a friend of mine phonetically write out that speech in Dutch they just assumed I was fluent in Dutch so when I got there Ino asks maybe improvising is sane talk to me through the whole scene and he says okay and then Dutch and I'm like I don't speak Dutch what does big Dutch I was in lighting set up and someone told me a joke shamino heard me laugh and he turned around and he said Willem step out and that was it I was fired from that so I don't really count that as my first movie although if you look hard enough you will sing I'm one of the fighters I fight Jeff Bridges is talk don't you think I would get out of here while you do that relax mom you crank that radio up the first movie that I really made that I had a substantial role in was the loveless and that's really where it started being Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery saw me at the Wooster group and they asked me whether I wanted to make a movie I'm attracted to strong directors altered directors directors that really need to do something you like to be around those people they inspire you they take you to places that you can't go by yourself I'm not interested in doing a job I'm interested in helping an artist do what they need to do they're behind the camera they need someone to be their creature I'm a color in the canvas and I love that okay ma'am you're back in action [Music] [Applause] Lewton was a movie that took a long time to get made Oliver Stone saw lots of actors cuz he first just wanted to cast a group of actors and then decide what characters they would play later he said yeah okay you're gonna be in this movie I don't know which role which was kind of an interesting approach I arrived in the Philippines and my plane was the last plane in because there was a revolution said tight the movies cancelled we'll get you out when we can so for about three or four days me and a couple of other people that were there ahead of time were out on the streets with the people and it was an incredible feeling because it was a revolution that happened for the most part without violence they got the movie back on track and we made it the fact that that death scene in Luton has become iconic the as I was doing it it felt special but that doesn't necessarily guarantee it's going to be iconic all the elements came together and I was just part of that when you talk about task-oriented act and it sounds like maybe that isn't emotional but it's very emotional I'm told to run from here to there I know that I'm going to die at a certain point does it get any simpler than that but once you engage it was like practicing a death and when I see it I do get a chill I remember very well the first time I was nominated for an Academy Award I didn't even know when they were announcing nominations my son's babysitter called me up hey guess what you've been nominated for an Academy Award faster remember we're bringing God and man together don't ever be together unless I die Last Temptation of Christ there was a long search to find Jesus and I wasn't involved in any of that almost every actor I know at one point went in on this movie but I wasn't part of that I was teaching and I get a call hey Martin Scorsese wants to talk to you really so of course I went to New York and said absolutely I'd love to do it he said let's do it when you're being crucified this flood of emotion comes to you the flood of association comes to you it's a very powerful thing that movie had a huge effect on me and when we shooting in Morocco there was nothing else Modern Life thought a million miles away I had no idea would be controversial its intention seemed so pure it was exploring something that had to do with spirituality I didn't anticipate the problems that happened I think that was a particular time politically that the religious right needed an issue to kind of circle their troops around and that became hit talk to her I talked to her this afternoon when you was a wild at heart was a great experience because that role kind of did itself David Lynch like you know brought out a hanger at one point and said well this is your costume and that was it he also said we got to get you an appointment with the dentist and I said why I read the script and it said he had bad teeth but it shows really how actors put limitations on themselves sometimes I never thought we were gonna do double dentures I put them in my mouth and I can't close my mouth properly anybody go like this you're gonna feel the serious and like you're hungry like you want something and you're gonna with some people that became a key slicked hair accident all that comes together it came out of externals that was a good rule [Music] I've read it in a parked car down the street they kid to leave Boondock Saints Troy Duffy was a first-time director he's basically a bartender and he liked movies and he thought well I can make better movies than what I'm saying so he wrote a script the kid says he makes it open when he takes his bike down and created a bidding war and then there was a lot of problem with casting and finally it went into turn around so they had to rethink how they were going to do it he tracked me down at the theater watched the theater show that he thought was wacky I don't think he made head nor tails about it but he was a sport I just liked the fact that he was a self-starter and this was such a passion project for him yeah it was a gamble it was a very much anticipated and then it had a fall from grace it got a very minor distribution but against all business models it got popular it became a cult movie I can tell just by how people come up to me on the street it's usually a very male audience but not always of a certain age if they come up to me I know it's gonna be a bush nonsense person it's gonna be a guy that he wants to talk about detective smecker which was a really fun character to play Boondock Saints has a special place in my heart for some people they think it's trashy but the people that love it love it so dearly shadow vampire second time I got nominated I play a vampire that's based on the actor in know SWAT - I could watch a film and copy this guy that's where it starts it was a makeup job that took three hours to get in three hours to get out every day it was a complete package that took me away from myself in a very concrete way and whenever that happens you connect with a kind of joy of performing and enjoy a fine gestures that wouldn't normally occur to you you can't wait for inspiration you got to do something and then it's really through action that stuff happens make him wish he would did yes and then grant his wish but how the cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind tell me how spider-man I wanted to do it very badly it was competitive I remember I was making a movie in Spain and they flew a casting director to do a screen test in my hotel room that's how he got the role I had to fight for that role my friends were like really you're gonna make a cartoon movie some of them snob dit you know but I thought no this will be cool this is interesting movies from comics were not a normal thing it felt like something new and then you had Sam Raimi he knew this material and he loved this material and it was a double role we were doing a lot of wire work that stuff for me is fun it's like being a circus performer when are they gonna make a circus movie I'm ready don't you know me and Esteban always thought of you as our baby brother I've always thought of you two as my dad's please don't let anyone make fun of me for saying so I can't guarantee that classy but I'll try I've worked with Wes Anderson four times now Life Aquatic was the first time it's different each time don't imagine that Wes Anderson works just one way there were these master shots very long and he just fold parts of the ensemble in so I was on set all the time and it would be like hey well I'm doing to being this shot sometimes we'd work all day on one shot rehearsing it and then we'd shoot at the end of the day and sometimes we do it in two takes it felt like theater when I say I don't normally do comedy I find out I do comedy after you know you play the scenes you live in the world I can say in retrospect that's comedy on an illegal suicide mission by a selfish maniac I hear what you're saying but I think you misjudged suka the literature they used in your search was about evil things committed against women but you read it as proof of the evil of women enter Christ I love that film it speaks the unspeakable he gets play for some of its extreme violence and some of its kinkiness but there's a lot more besides that in the movie Lars every day is a trial every day is shocking every day is interesting when you work on a movie that that is heavy or dark sometimes it would haunt you and sometimes it would just be so much that you'd be able to entertain some gallows humor and have a good you got your power back and use your TVs VCRs they see what happened have a nice day [Music] Florida project I was interested in Shaun Baker is very pure he knows how to do this thing that I love so much and that his work with what's there working with people that aren't normally actors or new actors was thrilling he created world and they were just existing in that world they weren't thinking about acting I could be not an actor I could be a hotel manager there were people living very similar lives to the story that we were making those people that were living in that situation told us how to make that movie so when you work on a movie sometimes you're working with a guy that was a cook last week you're working with a woman that's maybe a model woman that's been doing Shakespeare for 30 years everybody has a different way to get there and I like that an eternity skate beautiful role Julian's a friend I've also been with him in the studio same paint he had a very particular way to tell this story that I knew wouldn't be a biopic that would be an imagining of who we thought Vincent van Gogh might be and there are lots of sequences of me painting there's no stunt painter I would have to learn how to paint and Julian taught me so much not just about painting but about how to see things I felt very alive making that movie with eyes brightness a lady come to this rock playing the tough you made me laugh with your false Grum lighters Wow raaah beggars I saw the witch I knew nothing about it I thought wow there's a filmmaker here something about how he made that world and didn't make it a period film that points at itself you really were able to enter that world I sought out Ron beggars we tried to do a few things that didn't quite happen and then one day he said I've got it you and Rob Pattinson more or less yes or no it was a very direct approach and I said absolutely it's not often that in a film you get to perform with elevated language that's a interesting challenge to have we've been on this rock 5 weeks 2 days help me to make a leg working for most of what does that mean no Jesus I said they're all working for Moses Moses Randolph I knew Edward Norton were both New Yorkers he was in pre-production it was quite late when he at first asked me I said I can't do this movie I was growing the beard for lighthouse canned I said no one had a beard in the 1950s and because I'm growing the beard for this other thing I won't feel committed enough I won't feel cleansed the next day he called up and said no I don't think it's gonna be probably and I liked his persistence so I said okay let's do it and then and I surprised myself the beard helps because it really does set the character apart in a way that's very useful in the storytelling can I buy you a cup of coffee I'm hungry dinner I try not to live in the past and I try not to think too much about the future call me a hippie what can I say here now baby you learn your lessons intuitively you refine things and you work towards the personal liberation what is it ah I thought you said a love bus I thought was I in a movie come on bus not a bad title

Channel: Vanity Fair

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Keywords: willem dafoe, willem, dafoe, willem dafoe actor, willem dafoe career, willem dafoe break down, willem dafoe career timeline, willem dafoe movies, willem dafoe roles, willem dafoe spider-man, willem dafoe the lighthouse, motherless brooklyn, willem dafoe motherless brooklyn, boondock saints, spider-man green goblin, career timeline, vanity fair career timeline, willem dafoe 2019, career break down, career breakdown, the green goblin actor, vanity fair

Id: b5fNif_WGdc

Length: 17min 12sec (1032 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 05 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/augustfutures]

He just seems like such a good-natured, nice dude in real life. Everyone's favorite uncle.

[u/Blueberry_Mancakes]

His character on The Lighthouse was absolutely incredible. It was the perfect role for him.

[u/eltrotter]

You know, I'm something of a Willem Dafoe fan myself.

[u/TotallyJustBaco]

OUT AM I?

[u/Ransom__Stoddard]

One of my favorite living actors. So much range and absolutely fearless in taking some heavy acting risks. Boondock Saints may have been over the top, but he was fully committed.

[u/TERPINGTON]

almost disrespectful to label his career with “from boondocks saints to spider-man”. the man has had an extensive career and those two movies are about 3 years apart lol

[u/peanutdakidnappa]

Absolute fuckin legend, one of the best actors in the world, can’t wait to check out his performance in the lighthouse. Hope he finally wins an Oscar soon

[u/ImKnownToFuckMyself]

I’d definitely be fond of his lobster.

[u/frankmint]

Where is Streets of Fire?