Willem Dafoe gave a packed masterclass at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival on Thursday, discussing his work with David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, and Oliver Stone, among other things.
Meanwhile, the star sidestepped a question about US President Donald Trump. In an interview with Larry King at the start of the first Trump administration, Dafoe shared that the country "wasn't going in the right direction." When asked Thursday if he still felt that way, he simply replied, "If you know something about me and you do it, that's not a real question."
There were plenty of other topics to discuss. “I don’t have that personality,” Dafoe said when asked if he might one day become a filmmaker. “I like to make things. I like to have someone tell me what you see, and then I like to try to incorporate it.” I like to make things “and incorporate characters… Challenge their perceptions, their prejudices.” As an actor, “you can act mysteriously, even if sometimes irresponsibly,” he added. “It’s a beautiful way to play with testing your limitations.”
Asked how to play the famous death scene in Oliver Stone's Platoon, Dafoe said, "It's a moving scene," praising the music, editing, and other behind-the-scenes collaboration. "The way it was constructed was very simple. It wasn't really rehearsed," Dafoe recalled. "I had a very simple task: run for my life... and I'm also detonating bullet wounds on myself. So it's a purely technical task. It's like an athlete running. I'm not thinking about interpreting anything. I'm not thinking about the effect. I'm just trying to be as kind and clear and direct as possible, this action."
Discussing starred in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. "I thought it was strange," he recalled. Upon learning more about his inspirations and approach, he agreed to take on the role.
“This is a beautiful role, because [it's about] the human part of Jesus, and he's a guy who rejects this responsibility that was given to him, and that was an interesting place to be, and it's one of my favorite pieces, I think, because it was so demanding, because I was almost filming, believe it or not, it was a very low-key movie," but it worked for the movie, "Yeah, "Yeah, "yeah, it's a little bit back."
"You're not Jesus Christ. You're a Jesus Christ," he emphasized, explaining his approach to the role. The biggest challenge was "freeing myself from any image and expectation" of Jesus Christ.
Dafoe also said he was “shocked” by the film’s reaction. “Jesus rejects his job and lives like a normal man. He has children, he has sex. This was too shocking for people, so even without seeing the movie, there were huge protests against it,” the star recalled. “And then it became this very strange thing about Jews in Hollywood. It became this anti-Semitic thing, and it snowballed. And the perception is that it was the Catholic Church. It really wasn’t the Catholic Church. It was the fundamental right in America that started this, and then it spread to various places.”
Your reaction? "I was surprised, because in an era of super-violent movies and pornography and all kinds of movies, this is a movie that was trying to address the nature of faith," Dafoe said. "Yeah, it was a bore, because it was a movie I was very invested in, in my mind. So, it really prevented it from being widely distributed."
Marvel never has a problem with distribution. "The original Spider-Man was a lot of fun because within a single scene, it could go from very dramatic to very comedic, which is very difficult to do," Dafoe remarked. "He has a great sense of humor, but he's not light."
He also shared that he likes "doing action stuff." For the original Spider-Man , "I was still wearing wires," Dafoe said. "There was less CGI, and it was fun because he's athletic."
The star is in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, “In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of film and screen. ” Stellan Skarsgard and Ray Winstone also received honors at the festival this year.
Dafoe, who then has two films in Venice (Kent Jones' Late Fame and Gaston Solnicki's Sufleur ) and one in Toronto ( The Man in My Basement ) was greeted with a rousing standing ovation and excited waves from the masterclass crowd.
Dafoe's last appearance was at Sarajevo Fest in 2000 with Steve Buscemi's Animal Factory . "I knew him when he was a firefighter before he was an actor," the star said of Buscemi. Also at the festival, he spent time with Mike Leigh, "who is a very charming guy when you meet him," Dafoe said with a laugh.
A financial issue also arose. Money "is always a consideration," but "I never remember what I received" and never "chased" money, the actor emphasized when asked about the role of money.
Dafoe also shared an anecdote about his father on Thursday. "I really liked him, but he was pretty conservative," he once told Dafoe, "I like that movie where you play the rapist," meaning David Lynch's Wild at Heart . "This is probably funny because my sweet dad, you know, kicks me playing a really brutal criminal."
What was it like working with Lynch? “He wanted me to go to a dentist and get dentures” because his character Bobby Peru has rotten teeth, Dafoe recalled. “The actors put limitations on themselves. I thought they would color them in, but no, he wanted me to go to the dentist and he had dentures, dentures that went over his teeth. I went to pick them up, and the second I put them in my mouth, he couldn’t close his mouth. You felt different.”
But Dafoe allowed him to impact the way he portrayed the character. "This has become a trigger," he explained. "This was a lesson. Sometimes an external thing really opens something in your imagination that completes the character. And that was the beautiful thing between writing and... the situation. All these things were united, and I was there to receive it. And I didn't feel much scarier, but I don't have to do much, but I don't have to do much, but I don't have to do a lot of time, but I don't have to do a lot of time, but I don't have to do much, but I don't feel, but I don't have to do much, but I haven't been so afraid.
The film was the only collaboration with the legendary director, who died earlier this year. "David Lynch wasn't very conventional. He was an artist," Dafoe shared. "I wouldn't direct him conventionally. Very easy! Sometimes he would say very abstract things like, 'Willem, you know, when you start out, you're like green and then you turn brown.' He was fine with that."
Having made over 150 films in his career, “ Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time,” Sarajevo organizers said in a statement, as an honorary recipient.
Jovan Marjanović, director of Sarajevo Fest, recently praised Dafoe, unveiling his honor. “His body of work is something every actor aspires to. Every time he steps in front of the camera, he proves he’s a true master of his craft,” he said. “Whether starring in a Hollywood blockbuster or a low-budget independent film, his characters are always complex, emotional, and unforgettable.”
Dafoe received four Oscar nominations and won two Independent Spirit Awards, Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup, and an Honorary Berlinale Bear for Lifetime Achievement.
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival runs until Friday, August 22.
