Willem Dafoe on the secret to his acting method: “I just like doing things”
There is nobody doing it quite like Willem Dafoe, with an expansive career that is equally as multi-faceted and eccentric as he is, making a habit of working with renowned directors of the modern weird wave like Yorgos Lanthimos and Robert Eggers.
With such a sprawling filmography, it can sometimes be hard to fathom how the actor can find the time, with back-to-back projects that see him leap from voicing an animated character to playing a supervillain in the Marvel franchise and ending up in the work of Sean Baker. He seems to possess an infinite zest for life and a well of creative energy, a myth that Dafoe dispelled after discussing the true (and simple) reason behind his love for acting.
Some actors are motivated by a deep and intrinsic love for people, with their empathy and fascination for the characters that exist all around us becoming the driving force behind their craft. Some are motivated by a love of cinema, falling in love with the powers of the silver screen and discovering that acting could be a way to be a part of it, whereas some are just greedy for attention and desperate for any chance to find fame.
But while the likes of Margot Robbie and Ayo Edebiri are renowned cinephiles, and Nicole Kidman is famously fascinated in what makes a person tick, Dafoe is motivated by another reason that perhaps makes his choices a little clearer.
During his time on the silver screen, Dafoe has just about done it all, with his recent career trajectory marking the beginning of a new era for him as he abandons all expectations and ideas of normality by embracing the weirdest roles under the sun. Whether it be his blunt appearance in Kinds of Kindness or his portrayal of a brooding yet surprisingly flatulent lighthouse keeper in The Lighthouse, Dafoe has only continued to lean into what makes him most unique, becoming a series regular in the most bizarre and imaginative story worlds.
But when asked about how he approaches his craft, Dafoe replied, “You know, I’m pretty simple. When you say craft, I say ‘really?’ because the truth is, I just like doing things. I like doing things in a framed situation. And I like a camera being there and me just walking across from here to there”.
Adding, “Then, if you give me a task on top of that and a character intention and an accent and a beautiful costume and a beautiful setup, it compounds and compounds and then it becomes a real adventure, and you become almost hypnotised into this other realm. And I like that, but it always goes back to I basically like doing things”.
While many actors overcomplicate their process, coming up with elaborate and slightly ridiculous excuses to justify their reasoning for mailing dead rats to co-stars to ‘get into character’, Dafoe’s thought process perhaps offers us the best insight into his choices. It isn’t about the prestige, glamour, money or even the story itself, but about the simple pleasure he gains from keeping himself busy and simply trying new things.
