The standard “well-known actor” tropes don’t apply to Willem Dafoe. Take into account the beginning of this specific interview, simply because the star of “Poor Issues” was getting settled in a London lodge room, solely to be shocked by a lodge worker who didn’t understand the lauded performer was a) in his room, and b) attending to work. Within the background of our Zoom, the marginally involved worker might be heard apologizing, just for Dafoe himself to apologize again, gently telling him (twice), “Don’t fear!”
Additionally think about the timing of the interview, the morning of the Golden Globe nominations. Once I provided my congratulations on his nod within the Finest Supporting Actor class, Dafoe demurred and provided a smooth, “Yeah, that’s good.” And what about going up in opposition to co-star Mark Ruffalo? “I don’t like to think about it that means, however it’s good,” he mentioned. “As a result of it’s for 2 very completely different roles, very completely different capabilities.” No yelling at lodge workers, graciously accepting compliments, solely to defer them to his compatriots? If solely all stars have been like Dafoe.
It additionally helps that Dafoe doesn’t appear too hung up on competitors (4 Oscar nominations into his profession, that looks as if a wise solution to go), particularly on the subject of this movie and these individuals. On December 8, I moderated a sequence of Q&As and introductions for the raucous and well-received “Poor Issues,” first with simply director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone at public NYC theaters, later ending with a wide-ranging Q&A at MoMA with the complete group (Lanthimos and Stone, plus Dafoe, Ruffalo, and screenwriter Tony McNamara) for an AMPAS crowd. (They cherished it.)
The group was positively giddy to reunite and chat concerning the movie collectively, and Dafoe greeted Stone and Ruffalo with the type of heat hugs usually reserved for shut buddies. Once I talked about to Dafoe how apparent it’s all of them like one another immensely, he chuckled, “It’s ridiculous!”
However as I famous that different actors usually appear to notably revere Dafoe, he demurred once more. “Individuals are typically candy to me,” he mentioned. “However generally you hear these tales about individuals having issues with different actors; I don’t usually. I imply, I’ve been working for some time and I by no means have issues with individuals, so there could also be one thing there. I don’t know. Possibly I take pleasure in them, that’s it.”
If individuals are typically candy to him, I identified, it’s in all probability as a result of he’s additionally candy to them. It’s a two-way road. “I strive. I believe it’s actually necessary to be type and to make individuals really feel relaxed, as a result of I don’t suppose placing the warmth on them [helps the work],” Dafoe mentioned. “Then they carry out via a type of trauma they usually lose that type of stability between being there, in management. It’s only a panic factor. It burns sizzling, it feels emotional, however generally it’s not likely rooted. I believe individuals have to assist one another and folks need to be, not relaxed, as a result of I get pumped up too, however you need to really feel like all people’s working collectively. That’s all.”
One other factor that, maybe unexpectedly, relaxed Dafoe? The facial prosthetics he wears as the nice Dr. Godwin Baxter, who capabilities a bit as Dr. Frankenstein on this wily twist on the mythos (Stone’s Bella Baxter, a once-dead lady made reside by the doc plugging her personal child’s mind into her adult-sized head is, after all, a really particular type of “monster”). It’s one of many first issues that acquired him excited for the position.
“It’s so simple as, while you take [on] one thing that takes you away from your self, it makes room so that you can turn into another person and to really feel completely different impulses,” the actor mentioned. “It states the phrases in a really clear means. You don’t need to manufacture these phrases. … I really feel prefer it’s a lot better to place your self within the state of affairs, have the state of affairs work on you, moderately than management the state of affairs since you wish to level at one thing otherwise you wish to convey a message. I’ve by no means associated to messages, I’ve associated to experiences. And the standard of that have, if you happen to actually give your self to it, hopefully has one thing for individuals.”
He’s not simply speaking about individuals watching the ultimate product, but in addition the very individuals he works alongside on the best way there. “The opposite factor that, after all, is necessary, is even on the set, you see your self mirrored in different individuals’s reactions to you and the way they have a look at you and the way they cope with you,” Dafoe famous. “As a result of though they realize it’s simply make-up, they don’t cope with you an identical means [as] if you happen to’ve acquired your regular face.”
Stepping into the prosthetics was, as all the time, a course of. Within the early phases, Dafoe mentioned, it will take about 4 hours to get all the pieces on — together with pre-made items the crew “mainly glued” onto his face, plus all of the mixing of make-up to make it seem seamless — and two hours to get it off. (Thank Nadia Stacey, the movie’s hair, make-up, and prosthetic designer, for all the nice work.)
However whereas different actors may balk at that form of factor or no less than bemoan the expertise, Dafoe is refreshingly accepting of it. “It’s what you signed on for, and also you embrace it moderately than complain about, as a result of then it actually turns into painful,” he mentioned.
His relaxed strategy to it even extends to the precise work on the day. When requested how he handed these early morning hours within the make-up chair, Dafoe mentioned he principally mediated via it. “You may’t learn, you possibly can’t speak, and no one needs to speak at three o’clock within the morning when all people has been dragging their ass off the bed,” he mentioned. “I run via my dialogue. We don’t even take heed to music essentially. Mainly, I sit there and look within the mirror and rely breaths and meditate and do my dialogue and attempt to chill out. It’s a mind-bending, time-bending factor. However that’s not a nasty place to start out out your day.”
He added with amusing, “It’s similar to doing a yoga observe within the morning. If you happen to do a yoga observe, I really feel like, ‘Oh, I’ve completed my work at this time, I’ve paid my means by going via this torture, and now I get to have enjoyable.’”
Loads of that enjoyable occurred early within the course of of constructing “Poor Issues” in the course of the rehearsals — actually, extra like theater video games — that Lanthimos put his troupe via. Dafoe clearly cherished it.
“We get in a room and we possibly heat up a bit bit, after which we do theater video games that contain taking part in round with sure abilities,” he mentioned. “It’s getting your our bodies transferring, getting used to touching one another, taking part in video games with one another. The video games themselves usually are not that fascinating, however the guidelines that Yorgos places on them are what make them fascinating.”
The video games weren’t a lot about operating strains and even blocking scenes however getting a sure feeling going between the group. “That additionally let me perceive his course of a bit bit … studying his language and his means of being, and it simply made us all protected with one another and playful and supportive,” Dafoe mentioned. “As a result of while you get intimate like that and you’ve got a standard goal and also you’re all working towards one thing, individuals discover their higher selves. No one panics. To seek out the tone is all the time tough. You needed to make errors, you needed to be silly, you needed to attain. You couldn’t be protected. You couldn’t do your shtick.”
Largely, there was a robust sense of play, which carries over to the ultimate movie itself. Dafoe agreed. “You may perceive why Yorgos was interested in the fabric. You may perceive why Emma was interested in the fabric,” Dafoe mentioned. “I knew why all people was there, and also you don’t all the time.”
Initially, the plot of “Poor Issues” mirrors Mary Shelley’s iconic novel “Frankenstein”: Dr. Baxter finds Bella, experiments on her to craft a brand new form of human, and is shocked by how she evolves and modifications over time. But when Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein was pushed by his personal God complicated, there’s one thing else at play with Dafoe’s Godwin Baxter (who, sure, it have to be famous, is continuously referred to as “God” by Bella within the movie’s early scenes; humorous, proper?). We quickly study, for example, that Dr. Baxter’s personal father experimented on him, thus his mangled face (and a bunch of different bodily points). That places a special, unexpectedly emotional twist on Dr. Baxter’s journey and his bond with Bella.
It was shocking to Dafoe as properly, he mentioned. “He actually tries to show his ache right into a optimistic factor: reanimating Bella,” he mentioned. “Dr. Baxter, you’ve acquired to recollect, he’s remoted. Socially, individuals don’t wish to cope with him, as a result of he’s disfigured. His father additionally did experiments that make him impotent, so he’s robbed of sexuality. He’s a tragic determine, however he dedicates himself to science.”
And he dedicates himself to Bella. “Whereas within the Frankenstein fable, Dr. Frankenstein, as soon as the creature goes out, is repelled by him, I believe Baxter falls in love with Bella really,” Dafoe mentioned. “It’s touching, and it’s past a parental factor. I believe he invests himself in her. He misses her so deeply when she goes, and when he finds one other lady supposedly to take her place, it’s not the identical feeling.”
Sparking that degree of feeling with Stone was simple, principally as a result of Dafoe simply “likes her a lot.” “Once you’re really performing, she’s acquired nice talent and he or she works onerous, however that’s all very personal, she doesn’t put on it,” he mentioned. “As a result of she’s positioned on the middle of this, not solely as a personality but in addition as a producer, she type of took all people on, all the pieces revolved round Emma, with Yorgos being the puppet grasp. However simply her complete means of being, she’s usually playful. When she’s doing the onerous work, she doesn’t let you understand it. She’s not neurotic in any respect. If she has insecurities or she has struggles, she positive hides them via lots of good humor and simply making use of herself. She’s beneficiant.”
He added, “She was candy with me, so what offers, will get.” Possibly it actually will be that simple.
Dafoe is heartened by the preliminary response to the movie (a robust restricted opening final weekend, fairly strong critiques), and might’t look forward to it to achieve a wider viewers. “It’s simple to speak concerning the intercourse, it’s simple to speak concerning the comedy, however there are many different components, and I believe individuals are responding to that as properly,” he mentioned. “The film is definitely fairly complicated and could be very wealthy, and I believe for those that are sport, it may well actually be a really sturdy film, so far as the way it impacts your considering. … It’s going to be various things to completely different individuals, like several good film.”
The actor appears keen to maintain that Lanthimos and Stone magic going: He’s already shot one other movie with the pair, the upcoming “Type of Kindness,” which Lanthimos co-wrote along with his long-time collaborator Efthimis Filippou. “I used to be very completely satisfied to work with them each once more, and I’m very curious to see the film,” Dafoe mentioned. “I believe it’s protected to say it’s by no means like ‘Poor Issues.’ It’s a bit nearer to his earlier work. It’s a smaller movie, it’s current day, it’s structured otherwise.” (Once I famous I’m an enormous fan of Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Dafoe approvingly added, “There you go. You then’ll in all probability like this film.”)
Additionally on deck for Dafoe: one other reunion, this time along with his “The Lighthouse” and “The Northman” filmmaker Robert Eggers, who directs the star in “Nosferatu.” The actor is a bit cagey about providing up an excessive amount of, too early, having just lately been reminded of what can occur on the subject of much-anticipated tasks. “I mentioned about two sentences about ‘Beetlejuice [2],’ and I remorse that, as a result of when there’s an curiosity in a movie like that, it goes viral,” he mentioned. “After which what I say as an off-the-cuff remark, impulsively, turns into a narrative they usually construct one thing round it.” (Responsible as charged.)
Nonetheless, he couldn’t completely mood his pleasure over being again with Eggers. “He will get higher and higher and higher, will get extra articulate, extra on prime of it,” Dafoe mentioned. “He’s so clear when he works. It opens in December of subsequent yr, which is a very long time away. Making an attempt to be an optimist, I believe the studio should really feel very sturdy about it, as a result of that’s fairly a tricky slot, so I’m enthusiastic about that. I noticed some footage once we have been taking pictures, and I can truthfully say, visually, it was like in contrast to something I’ve seen. … The look of it and the way it was shot was extraordinary.”
Of his position, Dafoe mentioned he’s taking part in “type of a Van Helsing kind of character, however not precisely. So he’s true to the supply in some methods but in addition invented in some methods. I don’t know what else to inform!” OK, nice, a bit bit extra: “To see Lily-Rose Depp in a few of these costumes, and a few of the males, Ralph Ineson or Nick Hoult once they get in full [costume], it’s like they stepped out of a portray of that interval. The look could be very stunning. I haven’t seen [final] footage, I’m going to ADR on some this week, and I’m trying ahead to it.”
Sounds fairly enjoyable.
A Searchlight Footage launch, “Poor Issues” is now in choose theaters, with additional growth to comply with.
