Willem Dafoe became a performer almost unintentionally. «I always liked it, but it was not immediately my identity. I realized that I was an actor after working in small theater companies, for example, in the Wooster group in New York. Kathryn Bigelow saw me in a piece titled The Rig at the Wooster Group and my name is. Are you interested in making a movie? He said. And I answered: sure. Was The Loveless. That film was the beginning of my career.
That happened in 1981, 40 years ago, and in these four decades the face of this American has not stopped appearing on film and television screens. Thus, at 66, his is one of the most consistent and attractive careers in recent times. A trajectory that TCM viewers will be able to know better tomorrow, thanks to a new installment of A life in pictures, the talk show produced by the British Academy of Cinema and Television (BAFTA) and which this channel broadcasts exclusively in Spain.
Throughout the conversation that the actor has with the journalist Francine Stock, he reviews his life and his film work, marked by hits such as Platoon, Oliver Stone’s movie that made him a star and for which he got his first Oscar nomination, or The last temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese. «It is one of the best and most beautiful experiences that I have had in the cinema. We shot in Morocco and it was kind of a total immersion. A lot was demanded of me. It was a low-budget movie and I had to get rid of the burden of playing Jesus, “he recalls.
Dafoe has been seen in small independent films and auteur films, directed by directors such as Abel Ferrara or Lars Von Trier, and in large blockbusters and blockbusters What Spiderman O Aquaman. He has worked in Europe and the United States, making brief appearances as a supporting actor or leading the story. It does not matter, it is a safe value; never disappoints. “Money is not the most important thing because I know it will not make you happy,” he explains. I worked in Spiderman because it was a double role, a mixture of comedy and drama, sometimes in the same scene. I also love action. I knew he was going to do stunts, fly, work with cables. It was fantastic, and besides, at the time, comic book movies were a novelty. He was leading the way. It was all quite challenging and experimental, ”he says.
Also, at the end of the talk, TCM viewers will be able to enjoy one of Dafoe’s latest great works: The Florida Project, the Sean Baker-directed film for which the actor was nominated for the Golden Globe in 2018 and, for the fourth time, for the Hollywood Oscar. An award, the latter, which he has not yet won.
Opportunities will not be lacking in the future because your schedule is full of projects in the coming years. “I’m going through a period where I still find interesting things to do. I still love the adventure of going somewhere and making a movie. And not a long one, but something that is disciplined and strict, “he maintains.
Personal plane
Sixth of eight children of Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, a surgeon, and his wife Muriel, a Boston native nurse, Dafoe met Director Elizabeth LeCompte at the Performance Group. Both became professional collaborators, as well as founding members of The Wooster Group, and they started a relationship. In 1982 the couple had a son, Jack. After parting ways in 2004, Dafoe remarried in 2005 to Italian actress and director Giada Colagrande. The couple spend most of the year in Italy.
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