The 1963 performance that has always reassured Willem Dafoe’s self-doubt: “It worked fantastically”
It’s always surprising to learn that certain hugely successful stars have struggled with crippling self-doubt, even when Academy Award nominations – even wins – and A-list status seem to prove otherwise.
But such feelings are a natural side-effect of having a job in the spotlight, where immense pressure is to be expected. It’s quite reassuring, in a way, to learn that massive Hollywood actors experience imposter syndrome from time to time. If anything, it brings them down from the pedestal that we so often put them on; they’re just human after all, and acting is no easy job.
Willem Dafoe has long been praised for his range, having appeared in everything from monster hits like Spider-Man and American Psycho to slightly more offbeat numbers such as Antichrist and The Florida Project, but he still has his moments of doubt – and this comes despite the fact that one of his earliest roles in 1986’s Platoon actually earned him an Oscar nomination.
He’s not alone, though, because when Nicole Kidman was gearing up for Moulin Rouge! – which would earn her an Oscar nomination, too – she was utterly convinced that she couldn’t do it, and she almost backed out, calling it an “out-of-reach film”.
But the greatest actors are those who persevere through the toughest challenges, not simply giving up at the first hurdle 0 for Dafoe, there’s a certain performance he always comes back to when he needs reassurance that he is right for a role, watching it in awe every time.
Appearing in the Criterion Closet, he picked out the 1963 Palme d’Or winner The Leopard, calling it “fantastic”, explaining, “When I think I’m not right for a role, because I’m not enough like the character, I always think of Burt Lancaster in The Leopard. I mean, this Hollywood guy, you know, that I’m thinking from The Swimmer and from movies…”
“You know, ‘Indian wrestling! Ya like it?’ like that kinda thing. He’s going to be an elegant Sicilian gentleman. I don’t think so. But, you know what? I think it worked fantastically.”
Willem Dafoe on Burt Lancaster
The Leopard saw Lancaster act under the direction of Luchino Visconti, with the likes of Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale starring opposite him in the historical drama. Based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel of the same name, the movie was a great success, even if Lancaster was, at first glance, an unusual choice for the role.
It looked like something he perhaps wasn’t going to be able to pull off, but he stepped into the character of Don Fabrizio Corbera with perfect capability and ease. It was a lesson in never underestimating anyone, because Lancaster might not have been the first person you’d expect to lead an Italian movie, but of course, he could – his skill was apparent from the moment he made his debut in 1946’s The Killers.
“So when you don’t think you’re right for something, you actually may be very right for it, or you may be able to find a way to get there, which is cool,” Dafoe concluded.
