Willem Dafoe names his two favourite actors: “That’s what I’m more into seeing”
Despite having just turned 70, Willem Dafoe would certainly appear to be in the midst of something of a golden period. Over the last fifteen years few actors have taken such daring choices or put in more committed appearances as the veteran American, with his recent work under daring directors like Robert Eggers and Yorgos Lanthimos particularly standing out.
Just this year alone, Dafoe has appeared in A24 kids fantasy adventure The Legend of Ochi, Wes Anderson’s latest The Phoenecian Scheme and Greek-made drama The Birthday Party – quite aside from finishing three other films, including the upcoming horror The Man in my Basement opposite The Walking Dead’s Corey Hawkins.
Next year, Dafoe is also rumoured to be teaming up once more with Eggers, who directed him in The Lighthouse, on a new supernatural horror titled Werewulf. Dafoe has now made close to 200 movies over his 45-year career, claiming four Oscar nominations but mystifyingly no wins.
From Platoon to Wild Heart to Born on the Fourth of July, Dafoe would now undoubtedly be thought of as one of acting’s all-time greats. But perhaps it is because he is so good as a character actor rather than a traditional leading man that Academy Awards have passed him by. Certainly, that would bear out when he discusses his influences and favourite actors, as he revealed to fashion site SSence.
He explained: “When I was younger, some would say, ‘Who’s your favourite actor?’ And I could say someone like Warren Oates, just because of that everyman quality. He’s not known as a terrifically versatile actor, but he has a rootedness. Or the way someone like Harry Dean Stanton can be. They have a quality. That’s a little what I express in Hollywood terms – that thing of when someone pops on the screen in a not-obvious way.”
Warren Oates was an actor famed for some fantastic appearances in gritty Western movies, including Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch and Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, while Dean Stanton was a supporting actor who appeared in countless major films over six decades, including Alien, Cool Hand Luke, The Green Mile and many more.
These days neither man is probably what you would call a household name, but that’s something that appeals in them to Defoe, who added: “That’s what I’m more into than seeing great performances. You see someone that’s so fantastic that you say, ‘Wow, how did they do that?’ I’ve seen plenty of beautifully crafted performances. I’ve seen people be beautiful, handsome, graceful, clever – and I do like that. But the ones that you really love are the ones that sneak up on you.”
While he may not have got his hands on a golden statue just yet, Dafoe was this week honoured with an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo lifetime achievement award, previously won by the likes of Robert De Niro and Meg Ryan.
Dafoe last year picked out some of his favourite all time films for Criterion, which featured the likes of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, Japanese ‘60s horror Onibaba and Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, in which he played German seaman Klaus Daimler.
He can definitely count himself as one of Anderson’s inner sanctum of actors now that he has appeared in five of the Texan director’s films. Only the likes of perennial favourites Bill Murray and Owen Wilson have appeared in more.
