Willem Dafoe Movies
Known for the darkly eccentric characters he often plays, Willem Dafoe is one of the screen's more provocative and engaging actors. Strong-jawed and wiry, he has commented that his looks make him ideal for playing the boy next door -- if you happen to live next door to a mausoleum.Although his screen persona may suggest otherwise, Dafoe is the product of a fairly conventional Midwestern upbringing. The son of a surgeon and one of seven siblings, he was born on July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dafoe began acting as a teenager, and at the age of seventeen he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Growing weary of the university's theatre department, where he found that temperament was all too often a substitute for talent, he joined Milwaukee's experimental Theatre X troupe. After touring stateside and throughout Europe with the group, Dafoe moved to New York in 1977, where he joined the avant-garde Wooster Group.
Dafoe's 1981 film debut was a decidedly mixed blessing, as it consisted of a minor role in Michael Cimino's disastrous Heaven's Gate . Ultimately, Dafoe's screen time was cut from the film's final release print, saving him the embarrassment of being associated with the film but also making him something of a nonentity. He went on to appear in such films as The Hunger (1983) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) before making his breakthrough in Platoon (1986). His portrayal of the insouciant, pot-smoking Sgt. Elias earned him Hollywood recognition and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
Choosing his projects based on artistic merit rather than box office potential, Dafoe subsequently appeared in a number of widely divergent films, often taking roles that enhanced his reputation as one of the American cinema's most predictably unpredictable actors. After starring as an idealistic FBI agent in Mississippi Burning (1988), he took on one of his most memorable and controversial roles as Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Dafoe then portrayed a paralyzed, tormented Vietnam vet in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), his second collaboration with Oliver Stone. Homicidal tendencies and a mouthful of rotting teeth followed when he played an ex-marine in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), before he got really weird and allowed Madonna to drip hot wax on his naked body in Body of Evidence (1992).
Following a turn in Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close in 1993, Dafoe entered the realm of the blockbuster with his role as a mercenary in Clear and Present Danger (1994). That same year, he earned acclaim for his portrayal of T.S. Eliot in Tom and Viv, one of the few roles that didn't paint the actor as a contemporary head case. His appearance as a mysterious, thumbless World War II intelligence agent in The English Patient (1996) followed in a similar vein. In 1998, Dafoe returned to the contemporary milieu, playing an anthropologist in Paul Auster's Lulu on the Bridge and a member of a ragingly dysfunctional family in Paul Schrader's powerful, highly acclaimed Affliction. He then extended his study of dysfunction as a creepy gas station attendant in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999). After chasing a pair of killers claiming to be on a mission from God in The Boondock Saints, Dafoe astounded audiences as he transformed himself into a mirror image of one of the screens most terrfiying vampires in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). A fictional recount of the mystery surrounding F.W. Murnau's 1922 classic Nosferatu, Dafoe's remarkable transformation into the fearsome bloodsucker had filmgoers blood running cold with it's overwhelming creepiness and tortured-soul humor. After turning up as a cop on the heels of a potentially homicidal yuppie in American Psycho that same year, the talented actor would appear in such low-profile releases as The Reconing and Bullfighter (both 2001), before once again thrilling audiences in a major release. As the fearsome Green Goblin in director Sam Raimi's long-anticipated big-screen adaptation of Spider-Man Dafoe certainly provided thrills in abundance as he soared trough the sky leaving death and destruction in his wake. His performace as a desperate millionare turned schizphrenic supervillian proved a key component in adding a human touch to the procedings in contrast to the dazzling action, and Dafoe next headed south of the border to team with flamboyant director Robert Rodriguez in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2012
WALL-E's Andrew Stanton steps out from the world of animation into live-action with this adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character. Taylor Kitsch stars as John Carter, a Civil War soldier who finds himself magically teleported to the planet Mars, with fellow Wolverine star Lynn Collins joining him as love interest Dejah Thoris. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, (more)
- 2009
The first collaboration between legendary filmmakers David Lynch and Werner Herzog, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is loosely based on the true story of a San Diego man whose mystifying experiences lead him to commit a shocking act of matricide. Michael Shannon, Chloë Sevigny, and Willem Dafoe headline this psychological thriller written and directed by Herzog, produced by Lynch, and featuring Grace Zabriskie, Udo Kier, and Brad Dourif. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Shannon, Chloë Sevigny, (more)
- 2009
This enormously controversial psychodrama-cum-horror film from Danish enfant terrible Lars von Trier charts the degeneration of a marriage into apocalyptic violence, chaos, and insanity following an unthinkable domestic tragedy. The film opens with a prologue. While they make love in their apartment on a snowy winter afternoon, a husband and wife known only as "He" and "She" (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) fail to keep an eye on their young toddler. In a horrific turn of events, the child wanders over to an open window, entranced by the snow cascading down, and falls two stories to his death. Von Trier then divides the remainder of the film into four chapters, beginning with "Grief." In that segment, the woman finishes a month's hospitalization, and accuses her husband of apathy over the child's death, but proceeds to take responsibility for it herself; he calmly and rationally guides her through this process. In the second segment, "Pain," she confesses to him that she's most terrified of their property in the forest, because she spent time with her son there over the preceding summer; as a form of therapy, he takes her to that locale on a wilderness retreat. She appears to grow more calm and rational over their first days in that milieu. Yet the recovery, it seems, was only illusory, and the subsequent two chapters, "Despair (Gynocide)" and "The Three Beggars," depict the woman's shocking and abrupt regression into unbridled insanity, culminating with grotesque sexual violence against herself, gruesome acts of destruction against her husband, and an apocalyptic climax. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, (more)
- 2008
A filmmaker looks to his family's history as the basis for a historical epic that reflects some of the most tumultuous events of the 20th Century in this grand-scale drama from Theo Angelopoulos. A. (Willem Dafoe) is a director struggling to complete shooting on his latest project, a sweeping historical story being shot in Berlin that tells the true story of his parent's relationship. Spyros (Michel Piccoli) and Eleni (Irene Jacob) first met and fell in love shortly before World War II broke out, but the two were separated during the fighting, with Spyros making his way to America and settling in New York, while civil war forced Eleni to seek exile in Russia. Stalin established a colony for Greek expatriates in Tashkent, where Eleni joined her fellow expatriates, and when Spyros learned of her whereabouts after Stalin's passing, he left New York to be with her, entering Tashkent illegally via Germany. However, after a brief reunion which led to Eleni becoming pregnant, Spyros was found out by the authorities. After Spyros was arrested, Eleni was sent to Siberia, where she met Jacob (Bruno Ganz), a German Jew. Jacob fell in love with Eleni and he stayed by her side as she wrestled with he memory of Spyros and her son, who with Jacob's help was smuggled out of Tashkent to Canada and eventually reunited with his father. It's not until years later that A. is finally reunited with his parents (as well as Jacob) in Berlin as he tries to put their story on film, but what should be a happy time becomes potentially tragic as A.'s daughter falls into a deep depression and threatens to take her life. I Skoni Tou Chronou (aka The Dust Of Time) was an official selection at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe
With The Walker, Paul Schrader unofficially updates themes and tropes first explored by his controversial erotic thriller American Gigolo (1980). Woody Harrelson stars as Carter Page III, an overtly gay, Virginia senator's son, paid as an asexual escort of middle-aged women in the upper-crust circles of Washington, D.C. Carter's regular clients include three politicos' wives: Natalie Van Miter (Lauren Bacall), Abigail Delorean (Lily Tomlin), and Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas), to whom Carter is closest - so close that he squires her, regularly, to sexual rendezvous with her lover, the lobbyist Robbie Kononsberg (Steven Hartley). When an unknown perpetrator stabs Robbie to death, and Lynn discovers his murdered body at his condo, Carter attempts to protect Lynn and her husband, Larry (Willem Dafoe), from media intrusion by informing the police that he found the body himself, despite the fact that it makes him an immediate suspect. In time, Carter discovers from the women (during their gossip over a canasta game) that Robbie was involved with a shady insurance company, on the verge of being investigated - and that the investigation would have uncovered dirt and scandal on each woman. To shield Lynn from trouble, and deliver himself from incrimination, Page ultimately decides to investigate the crime himself, with the close assistance of his lover, the German-Turkish photographer Emek (Moritz Bleibtreu). Schrader authored the original script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
- 2007
Indie stalwart Abel Ferrara helms this quirky comedy about the goings-on at a downtown cabaret. Willem Defoe stars as Ray Ruby, the proprietor of a joint where all of the dancing girls have big dreams of working their way up to bigger and better things. But trouble begins to brew when money suddenly comes between Ray and his two associates, played by Bob Hoskins and Matthew Modine. Asia Argento and Drea de Matteo also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins, (more)
- 2006
Japanese director Nobuhiro Suwa helms this poignant and heart-rending short subject, which represents his contribution to the omnibus film Paris, je t'aime. The episode concerns a Parisian mother (Juliette Binoche) devastated by the loss of her young son, who receives an unusual form of consolation from a cowboy on horseback (Willem Dafoe). Other directors who contributed to Paris, je t'aime include Olivier Assayas and Vincenzo Natali. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, (more)
The politics of slavery and the follies of nation-building highlight Danish director Lars von Trier's thought-provoking follow-up to the director's 2003 drama Dogville, featuring The Village's Bryce Dallas Howard in the role originally played by Nicole Kidman, and shot in the same stage-bound style as its predecessor. Shortly after leaving Dogville, Grace (Howard) and her father (Willem Dafoe) wander into a gated Alabama community still operating under the tenets of slavery. Appalled to stumble across a brutal scene in which a white master is viciously lashing his slave (Isaach de Bankolé), Grace hastily intercedes and pleads with the abusive man to treat his workers with respect and dignity. When merciless matriarchal plantation owner Mam (Lauren Bacall) dies shortly thereafter, the remaining slaves, who have never tasted freedom and only known life under "Mam's Law," implore the sympathetic Grace to help ease their turbulent transition toward democratic rule, with disastrous results. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach de Bankolé, (more)
It's been a long and hard life for death-row inmate Lee Ray Oliver (Ray Liotta), and by the time he is strapped to the gurney to be executed by lethal injection, his death sentence seems more like sweet release than ultimate punishment for a lifetime of crime. Awakening stunned and confused after being pronounced deceased by the prison doctor, Lee Ray is given a second chance at life on the one condition that he take part in a secret experimental treatment designed by revolutionary scientist Dr. Miles Copeland (Willem Dafoe) to cure him of his criminal instinct once and for all. He is granted a new name and new hope when the treatment works - permanently - but soon the past returns to haunt him in the form of several old enemies, and then shady government officials crop up to terminate Copeland's program. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Willem Dafoe, (more)
- 2004
In 1979, Michael Cimino went from being a director with one obscure Clint Eastwood action film and a handful of television commercials to his credit to one of the hottest talents in Hollywood, all on the strength of one film, The Deer Hunter. A multiple Oscar winner, a box-office success, and a controversial critical favorite, The Deer Hunter made Cimino a director to watch, and United Artists, a studio in need of both critical prestige and a box-office blockbuster following the departure of their longtime management team, signed up Cimino for his next project, a historical Western drama called The Johnson County War. However, by the time the film reached theaters in 1981, Cimino had exceeded his shooting schedule by nearly a year, the budget had swelled to a then-scandalous 40 million dollars, and the movie had a new title, Heaven's Gate. Originally premiered in a version running nearly four hours, Heaven's Gate was savaged by American critics, and had developed a reputation as a nearly total disaster before it went into wide release in a 160-minute edit. As one might expect, the film was a box-office flop, and the bad publicity and financial debacle led Transamerica, United Artists' parent company, to sell the studio later that year, essentially putting them out of business. Steven Bach, one of the United Artists executives who oversaw the project, wrote a book about the making of the movie, and Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate is a documentary adaptation that looks at where Cimino's ambitions and United Artists' management style went wrong, as well as asking if the meticulously crafted film is the unmitigated disaster it's chalked up to be. Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate was screened at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival, where it was shown in tandem with a restored print of the 220-minute cut of Heaven's Gate. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
This exhaustively researched cable-TV documentary traces the history of drug movies, from camp classics like Reefer Madness to more serious and sober examinations like Requiem for a Dream. Top-heavy with clips from such once-shocking groundbreakers as The Man With the Golden Arm, the "head" flicks of the 1960s and '70s (Easy Rider, the Cheech and Chong vehicles, et al.), the goofy dope-head comedies and the straightforward "wasted-teen" dramas of the '80s (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Drugstore Cowboy) and cautionary epics about the ruined lives of the rich and famous (The Doors) and international narcotics-financed corruption (Traffic), the film illustrates how the truth about the drug culture has been both accurately chronicled and pathetically misrepresented by Hollywood. Several actors, writers, and directors who have worked in films detailing drug use and abuse are interviewed. Assembled by Oscar-winning moviemaker Bruce Sinofsky, Hollywood High was originally telecast by the AMC cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A unique Western for the new millennium, director Rune Bendixen's Bullfighter tells the darkly comic tale of a drifter framed for murder and subsequently hunted by a horde of unrelenting assassins. Jack (Olivier Martinez) is a wanderer whose aimless roaming leads him to a number of interesting locations and into the company of many interesting people, and despite his fascination with bullfighting he leads a largely peaceful existence. When a crime boss' daughter is accidentally gored to death, Jack is implicated in the unfortunate event and singled out for termination by a seemingly unending army of lethal hitmen. As Jack wages an uphill battle for survival against the harsh desert terrain and a hail of gun smoke and lead, his will to live depends on his ability to exercise his demons and come to terms with the fact that he may not live to see another sunrise. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The American Film Institute's Directors: Martin Scorsese profiles the great director and offers insight into Scorsese's working methods, philosophies, and intentions. The documentary examines his total career, including his apprenticeship with Roger Corman, the great controversy over Last Temptation of Christ, his award-winning gangster picks, and Bringing Out the Dead, which received mixed reviews. Directed by Robert J. Emery, the one-hour program features interviews with Scorsese, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Barbara De Fina, Griffin Dunne, Ray Liotta, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Paul Newman, and Joe Pesci. Films excerpted include Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, After Hours, Casino, and others. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide
Actor-turned-director Steve Buscemi follows up on his restrained 1996 directorial debut Trees Lounge (1996) with this gritty, understated prison drama. Twenty-one-year-old suburban kid Ron (Edward Furlong) got busted for dealing drugs and slapped with an especially severe jail sentence. Though he tries to keep a low profile at prison, he soon attracts unsavory attention of various sex-starved goons. Fearing rape, he appeals directly to Earl (Willem Dafoe), a fellow prisoner who runs the place like it was his own fiefdom. Though Ron's request is strictly against this rarified culture's baroque rules, Earl takes him under his wing, and soon he is a part of Earl's inner circle. Slowly Ron learns the breadth of Earl's power, ranging from the easy procurement of drugs to the violent dispatching of a prisoner who gets out of line. As Ron grows increasingly indebted to Earl, he wonders how he is expected to repay him. Yet Earl, who shows his fondness for the lad with fatherly tenderness counterbalanced with repressed yearning, never pushes his advantage. Other members of the cast include Tom Arnold as a salivating hill-billy and an almost unrecognizable Mickey Rourke as a cross-dressing prison queen. This film was highly praised at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, (more)
- 2000
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For those who enjoy discovering or learning more about directors with unique or even bizarre filmmaking interests, David Cronenberg is a true find. His movie Crash tells the story of a group of people who think sex is best when it involves violent car accidents, his remake of The Fly is an eerie masterpiece combining the disturbing with the comedic, and his film Scanners is a witty satire about the relative madness of society at large. This video, produced by the American Film Institute, includes an interview with Michael Ironside, an actor who appears in at least one of Cronenberg's films. Ironside provides some interesting insights into the "real" David Cronenberg.
~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
- 1999
A complex and multifaceted forgotten artist whose work found critical acclaim at New York City's Betty Parson's Gallery from 1949 to 1967, Forrest Bees lives a private life in an isolated bait camp in Texas and his story is one of great perseverance and tragedy. Based on alchemy, Jungian philosophy, and aboriginal rituals, Bees' complex and thought-provoking work is explored as narrator Willem Dafoe and Ruth Maleczech guide the viewer through his intriguing life. Interviews with art historian Meyer Schapiro and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman discuss the historical importance of his work. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe
- 1998
A common question about this ancient healing art: is it a form of exercise? Does it relieve stress? The answers to these and other questions are revealed during conversations with David Life and Sharon Gannon, the founding directors of Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City (one of the leading yoga centers in the world), as well as with actor and yoga practitioner Willem Dafoe and author and devotional performer Bhagavan Das. This 56-minute video is a stimulating and revealing look at yoga -- its practices, its methods, its motives, and its origins in India. ~ Forrest Spencer, All Movie Guide
This third feature film version of Joseph Conrad's tragic romantic drama (the best of which remains John Cromwell's 1940 adaptation) is the one that stick's closest to the original story of a reclusive, hard-hearted fellow living on a private island in the Dutch East Indies who must protect his home, and the woman he comes to love, from two brutish villains. The story is told by a sea captain and begins at a turn-of-the century hotel in the port town of Surabaya where the Dutch entrepreneurs come to drink and wind down while listening to an all-female orchestra led by creepy conductor Sam Giancomo (Simon Callow). The joint is owned by an unpleasant, bigoted German named Schomberg (Jean Yanne) who constantly pesters the conductor to sell him Alma (Irene Jacob), the prettiest girl in the band. Eventually Sam relents, causing the frightened Alma to beseech taciturn patron Axel Heyst (Willem Dafoe) to help her escape. At first Axel refuses, but then has a change of heart and takes her with him to his lonely island where she will live with himself and his valet Wang (Ho Yi). Initially, Axel wants nothing to do with Alma, but things change and they become lovers. Meanwhile, the vengeful Schomberg plots revenge. He gets a chance to enact it with the arrival of the villainous Mr. Jones (Sam Neill) and his henchmen who turn Schomberg's bar into a gambling house. Seeing that Jones is ruthless and avaricious, Schomberg casually mentions that there is an untapped fortune lying in an abandoned mine located on Axel's island. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This drama is based upon an 18th century French novel by Crebillon. It represents the sharp conversations between a clever, free-thinking writer and a beautiful noblewoman as he tries to seduce her. At her request, he must recount his previous love exploits. He also describes the times he spent in prison after he was arrested for his licentious writings and suspicious acquaintances. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Lena Olin, (more)
Madonna plays Rebecca Carlson, a sex bomb who parades naked in front of the open windows of her houseboat at all hours while the lobstermen catch crabs. This entry in the Basic Instinct sweepstakes poses the question: If love hurts, does sex kill? The judge and jury certainly want to find out when Rebecca's latest conquest, a multi-millionaire, dies of a heart attack while making love to her. Eight million dollars was bequeathed to Rebecca in his will, and District Attorney Robert Garrett (Joe Mantegna) is convinced that Rebecca, knowing that her rich lover had a weak heart, killed him with wild sex so that she could get her mitts on the money. Rebecca's lawyer, Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe), thinks differently, suspecting the millionaire's private secretary Joanne Braslow (Anne Archer) of the crime, since she was dumped by the millionaire for Rebecca. Besides which, Frank is attracted to Rebecca himself and throws legal ethics out the window as he starts a sadomasochistic affair with her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madonna, Willem Dafoe, (more)
- 1992
Musician and independent film personality John Lurie hardly seems like the sort of guy who would host a TV show about fishing. But then again, Fishing With John was hardly a typical nature program; Lurie and guests such as Tom Waits, Dennis Hopper, and Matt Dillon take to the water in search of adventure but usually end up with something else altogether. Discover how to catch fish using cheese and a pistol with Jim Jarmusch, let Tom Waits teach you new ways to store your catch, and build an ice fishing shanty with Willem Dafoe in these surreal, dryly witty outdoor escapades. Fishing With John aired in the U.S. on the Independent Film Channel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Page Fletcher stars as the title character in this 1983-1988 made-for-cable suspense anthology. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- Add Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam to QueueAdd Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam to top of Queue
Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam was first telecast April 3, 1988, over the HBO cable service. Based on the book of the same name, the program is devoted to poignant recitations of letters to and from American participants of the Vietnam war. The letters are heard over images culled from news footage, home movies and still photography, with contemporary music added to put things in the proper historical context. The 2-hour film, featuring readings from various well-known actors (see cast list), was a co-production involving Bill Couturie, a previous Emmy winner for Vietnam Requiem, and the Vietnam Veterans Ensemble Theatre Company. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
