Willem Dafoe names his most overlooked movie: “We made the thing on the spot”
Since his screen debut with Heaven’s Gate, Willem Dafoe has forged a career as one of Hollywood’s most unique character actors. He can bring his singular brand of wild-eyed intensity and off-kilter comedy to blockbusters, action films, and indie dramas, while his stunning commitment to playing truly weird characters has made him a muse of directors like Paul Schrader, Yorgos Lanthimos and Robert Eggers. Over the years, Dafoe has racked up more than 150 film and television credits, so there is bound to be a hidden gem every couple of years. However, Dafoe has his own opinion on his most overlooked picture – which few may have heard of.
When Dafoe first worked with maverick director Abel Ferrara in 1998’s New Rose Hotel, he found an artistic kindred spirit. Having said that, the actor wasn’t as happy with their first collaboration as some of his fans. Of the erotic sci-fi thriller, which co-starred Christopher Walken and Asia Argento, Dafoe told Film Lounge, “The production was in shambles. We had a good script; we had a good cast. The movie – some people like it very much, and I don’t tend to judge my movies, but I think…there were problems. But not so much to scare me off Abel.”
However, when Dafoe reunited with Ferrara – who first gained notoriety for directing the provocative crime thrillers King of New York and Bad Lieutenant – on 2007’s Go Go Tales, they found their groove. Interestingly, Ferrara initially courted Walken for the lead role, but when he couldn’t do it, he turned to Dafoe, who was now living in Rome just like Ferrara. The director told Cinema Scope, “We had our differences, but…when he read it, he got it.”
He added, “We’ve been trying to make this film for seven years, but we never really had the guy.”
To Dafoe’s delight, the film turned out even better than he expected, vindicating his decision to give Ferrara another chance. Even though Go Go Tales didn’t seem to make much of an impression on cinema audiences, Dafoe was adamant, “It’s an underrated movie and an unseen movie.”
Dafoe’s most overlooked film followed a day in the life of strip club owner Ray Ruby. The plot—if you could even call it that—followed Ruby doing everything in his power to bring more tourists to his club while trying to keep his dancers paid. The film was shot in Italy, and Ferrara wanted a cinema-verite feel, so even though there was a script, the cast almost entirely improvised the dialogue. Dafoe admitted, “Much was unspoken, but we made the thing on the spot, and we shot it.” Hilariously, Ferrara called the film his “first intentional comedy”, which raises questions about which of his previous scabrous, controversial efforts he felt slipped into the realm of unintentional mirth.
Either way, Dafoe loved working on Go Go Tales because it was the first time he felt a true collaboration with Ferrara. He told Port, “You develop a shorthand; you develop a trust. As an actor, I like it best when I’m the creature of someone who’s making a world. They want to see something, and I’m a guy who gets fed into this world. They’re whispering in my ear, and I’m trying to make it manifest.”
Dafoe believed the film to be Ferrara’s most personal work, not least because he “was playing his alter ego.” He found it incredibly fulfilling to be tasked with embodying Ferrara’s experience, even if it was fictionalised in the movie. He mused, “It’s a beautiful portrait of a dreamer and an artist—a kind man that’s out of step with everyone else. It’s kind of bittersweet.”
