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
bridges people want
I'm one of those people who when I go over a bridge, I want to jump. It's just this intense tickle in the back of my throat. It's like I'm on the verge the whole time I'm walking over that bridge, and I'm not going to get a release until I jump.
pride kind guilty
I pride myself on being fairly polite on a set so it's kind of a guilty pleasure to poke others on the set.
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.
compassion views empathy
Performing is about developing empathy, which leads us to a broader view of the world and encourages us to develop compassion; so we can comfort each other and not be so brutal with each other.
style important directors
The director's very important to me, particularly when the director has a recognizable style.
theatre ready
With theatre, you have to be ready for anything.
dancer actors doers
Sometimes I say I feel more like a dancer than an actor, because there are things implied about being an actor that I don't really like. I feel more comfortable with the word 'performer'. I like being the thing. I like being the doer. There's a factualness to it. And then certain resonances happen out of how you apply yourself physically.
interesting people stories
I have some sort of affinity for compulsive behavior. The most interesting stories come up from the people on the outside.
moving play luxury
In films you do a scene, you play around with it and unless you're doing a lot of reshooting, which no one has the luxury to do, you deal with the problem for a day and then you move on. On some level, it never allows you to go very deep into what performing is about.
patterns taste advertising
I'm an optimist. I hope if a movie's good that it will be a success, but as we know, that's not always true, just because of popular taste, advertising, distribution patterns - there's lots of reasons.
stories pushing buttons
You can be intuitive when you've got a more expansive role. You can get into the poetry of telling the story rather than just pushing buttons.
sound should turns
Turn off the sound in a movie, and if you can tell what's going on, the movie should work.
opportunity interesting stuff
I love doing action and stuff; the problem is usually action movies are not that interesting. Also as I get older I feel like there's less opportunities for me.
exercise theatre vices
The bad things about theatre get balanced by the good things in film and vice versa. So to tell you the truth, I love it when I can go back and forth - it feeds different parts of you and exercises different muscles.