When Willem Dafoe receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Jan. 8, the distinction will commemorate more than just a four-time Oscar nominee, but an actor so versatile that he has embodied everything from a conflicted messiah in “The Last Temptation of Christ” to the tortured father figure of “Antichrist.” Is there an actor working today with greater range?
With his deep-set eyes, sharp nose and broad smile, Dafoe has depicted his share of devils, from creepy “Nosferatu” star Max Schreck in “Shadow of the Vampire” to comic-book villain the Green Goblin in “Spider-Man 2.” But he also excels at the other end of the spectrum, as when he plays God in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” a Frankensteinian surgeon charitably committed to reanimating dead creatures, like Emma Stone’s Bella.
“My character has this beautiful predicament, because he adores her so much and she adores him, but what she needs,...
With his deep-set eyes, sharp nose and broad smile, Dafoe has depicted his share of devils, from creepy “Nosferatu” star Max Schreck in “Shadow of the Vampire” to comic-book villain the Green Goblin in “Spider-Man 2.” But he also excels at the other end of the spectrum, as when he plays God in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” a Frankensteinian surgeon charitably committed to reanimating dead creatures, like Emma Stone’s Bella.
“My character has this beautiful predicament, because he adores her so much and she adores him, but what she needs,...
- 1/8/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Willem Dafoe once got down and dirty for the sake of art.
The “Inside” and “Poor Things” actor recalled during the “Smartless” podcast an experimental theater piece titled “Hula” that he performed with New York City’s The Wooster Group troupe in 1982.
Dafoe explained that the group “needed to do something light and easy” after director Elizabeth LeCompte lost her father. Dafoe and his co-stars “took an old Hawaiian record from the ’50s — really corny, y’know, Hawaiian music — and we got some grass skirts and some leis, and someone painted a backdrop, and we invented these dances, we just made them up, and we’d do the dances to this music, you know?”
He continued, “The gag was, to make it stick, under our grass skirts, we weren’t wearing anything, so it was two men and a woman, and she was also not wearing anything, and bare-breasted. So we did this show,...
The “Inside” and “Poor Things” actor recalled during the “Smartless” podcast an experimental theater piece titled “Hula” that he performed with New York City’s The Wooster Group troupe in 1982.
Dafoe explained that the group “needed to do something light and easy” after director Elizabeth LeCompte lost her father. Dafoe and his co-stars “took an old Hawaiian record from the ’50s — really corny, y’know, Hawaiian music — and we got some grass skirts and some leis, and someone painted a backdrop, and we invented these dances, we just made them up, and we’d do the dances to this music, you know?”
He continued, “The gag was, to make it stick, under our grass skirts, we weren’t wearing anything, so it was two men and a woman, and she was also not wearing anything, and bare-breasted. So we did this show,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Rachel Chavkin has been here before. Under her direction, Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell’s gorgeous musical that sets the mythical tales of Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades and Persephone in – above ground – a stylized New Orleans and – below ground – a coal-mining hellscape – has garnered 14 Tony Award nominations. That’s the most nominations of any production this year, just as the Chavkin-directed Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 fronted the nomination pack (with 12) in 2017.
So yes, the Tony-nominated Chavkin has been here before, but what does it say about Broadway that she is, in a sense, alone in her field: She’s the only woman to direct a Broadway musical this season.
In this candid, wide-ranging conversation, Chavkin spoke to Deadline about Broadway, about what women like herself and Anaïs Mitchell bring to the theater, about Hadestown specifically, and about what she’d like to do next.
So yes, the Tony-nominated Chavkin has been here before, but what does it say about Broadway that she is, in a sense, alone in her field: She’s the only woman to direct a Broadway musical this season.
In this candid, wide-ranging conversation, Chavkin spoke to Deadline about Broadway, about what women like herself and Anaïs Mitchell bring to the theater, about Hadestown specifically, and about what she’d like to do next.
- 5/22/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
With its expressive crags, Willem Dafoe’s face has been unmistakable since the days of “Platoon” and “The Last Temptation of Christ.” However, with more recent supporting roles in multiple “Spider-Man” movies and “Aquaman,” he’s noticed a different response when people spot him in public.
“I’ll run into people sometimes who say, ‘You don’t make movies anymore?’” he said over breakfast in the West Village. “It’s embarrassing. They look at you like, ‘Poor guy! You really had something going and it’s not happening for you anymore.’”
In truth, movies happen for Dafoe faster than ever. This former experimental theater performer almost never stops working, garnering four Oscar nominations. But he tackles so many varied projects — ranging from superhero universes to microbudget biopics like Abel Ferrara’s “Pasolini” — that it’s often hard to see the big picture. With a tireless work ethic and near-unmatched pliability,...
“I’ll run into people sometimes who say, ‘You don’t make movies anymore?’” he said over breakfast in the West Village. “It’s embarrassing. They look at you like, ‘Poor guy! You really had something going and it’s not happening for you anymore.’”
In truth, movies happen for Dafoe faster than ever. This former experimental theater performer almost never stops working, garnering four Oscar nominations. But he tackles so many varied projects — ranging from superhero universes to microbudget biopics like Abel Ferrara’s “Pasolini” — that it’s often hard to see the big picture. With a tireless work ethic and near-unmatched pliability,...
- 5/10/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Actor Willem Dafoe is enjoying being back in the theatre, especially with the group directed by his partner of 20 years, Elizabeth LeCompte. Oscar-nominated Dafoe is in Melbourne, Australia, with New York's The Wooster Group to deliver Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape. And Dafoe, who plays a rage-fuelled ship's stoker, is taking pleasure from being away from the filmsets of Hollywood. He says, "Film is fragmented and gets into lots of other people's hands. There are a lot of pleasures that theatre gives me. You get to perform uninterrupted." And for Dafoe, the biggest buzz in the expressionistic, language and music-driven play is the pace that has been set for him. He explains, "The rhythms I have to have are very fast. Elizabeth has pushed me into a fast rhythm - it's not what I usually feel comfortable doing."...
- 10/17/2001
- WENN
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