In this new, online-exclusive video for Criterion, Wes Anderson, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, and Willem Dafoe reminisce about the challenging conditions under which they made The Life Aquatic … He received his first Academy Award nomination (as Best Supporting Actor) for his role as Sergeant Elias Grodin in Oliver Stone's war film Platoon (1986). Does anybody know who it was? [94] Dafoe co-starred as the White House Chief of Staff in American Dreamz, a comedy satirizing both popular entertainment and American politics. [117] His final appearance of the year was in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, another film centring around vampires in which Dafoe played the foppish vampire Gavner Purl. [96], In 2007, Dafoe played a pretentious film director in the British comedy film Mr. Bean's Holiday, starring Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean. [93] Dafoe had a supporting role in Spike Lee's 2006 crime thriller Inside Man, playing a veteran captain of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit helping with a hostage negotiation during a bank heist on Wall Street. [37] In the same year, Dafoe co-starred in David Lynch's crime film Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. [105] Dafoe co-starred as SS Nazi officer in Paul Schrader's Adam Resurrected (2008), which starred Jeff Goldblum as a concentration camp internee. [173] He now holds both Italian and American citizenship. (For immense contribution to the art of film. The film and his performance received enormous critical acclaim, with The Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday writing that "Dafoe delivers his finest performance in recent memory, bringing to levelheaded, unsanctimonious life a character who offers a glimmer of hope and caring within a world markedly short on both". [147] His final film of 2014 was the action thriller John Wick starring Keanu Reeves, in which Dafoe appeared as the mentor to the titular character, a former hitman who is forced out of retirement to seek vengeance for the killing of his puppy. [38] He wore fake, corroded teeth and grew a pencil moustache that bore resemblance to his previous collaborator, John Waters. [154] He next played the boss of Gerard Butler's character in the drama A Family Man and starred in Loris Gréaud's arthouse science fiction film Sculpt, which was only screened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for one person at a time. The Hollywood Reporter thought that Dafoe appeared to think he was "in a pantomime",[97] while a New York Times reviewer felt he was "amusing" in the role. [34][35] Dafoe reunited with Platoon director Oliver Stone for a small appearance in the biographical war drama Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Dafoe played a cold, domineering English professor who has a strained relationship with his family. Willem Dafoe —PHOTOS BY RUBEN V. NEPALES LOS ANGELES—“To know me is to love me,” laughingly said the actor who can project evil with a … [172], In 1977, Dafoe began a relationship with director Elizabeth LeCompte. [176], Dafoe married Italian actress, director, and screenwriter Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005, a year after the two had met in Rome at the premiere of one of her films. [18], Following a brief appearance in the horror film The Hunger (1983), Dafoe again played the leader of a biker gang in Walter Hill's 1984 action film Streets of Fire. Dafoe was next seen in the comedy-drama The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), his first of three films with director Wes Anderson. Roger Ebert praised Dafoe's "gifted" portrayal of LeTour and Owen Gleiberman opined that "even when the film doesn't gel, one is held by Willem Dafoe's grimly compelling performance. I just saw an interview with Dafoe for GQ where he mentioned that another actor dropped out of the movie. Dafo… William Dafoe grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, about 100 miles north of Milwaukee, and was nicknamed "Willem" in high school. He is an American voice, stage, and film actor, and a member of the Wooster Group. He is of mostly German, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou fits in perfectly with Anderson's previous work in terms of tone and character, but it is unique when compared to those movies as far as laughs go. [32] Dafoe was briefly considered for the role of the super-villain the Joker in the Tim Burton-directed superhero film Batman (1989), as screenwriter Sam Hamm noticed physical similarities, but was never offered the part that eventually went to Jack Nicholson. Still, it's … Dafoe was born William J. Dafoein Appleton, Wisconsin. These films, like the ones he’s made in the years since—from the Oscar-nominated The Royal Tenenbaums to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou to The Darjeeling Limited and the animated Fantastic Mr. Fox—are vivid, wry studies of families and other groups, infused with liberal doses of both hilarity and melancholy. The film delves into fiction when, over the course of Nosferatu's production, the cast and crew come to discover that Schreck is actually a vampire himself. Houston native Wes Anderson’s idiosyncratic directorial style—marked by eccentric, colorful compositions and a fastidious attention to detail—seemed completely anomalous in the U.S. independent film landscape at the outset of his career. He has 7 siblings, five sisters, and 2 brothers. [41] In his next starring role, Paul Schrader's drama Light Sleeper, Dafoe played John LeTour, a lonely, insomniac, New Yorker working as a delivery man for a drug supplier, who is played by Susan Sarandon. The film garnered a poor reaction critics, with a reviewer for Paste stating "there's only so much depth [Dafoe] can bring to such a shallow character". Dafoe played the Norman Osborn incarnation of the Green Goblin, the billionaire founder and owner of the corporation Oscorp, becoming the Green Goblin after testing an unstable strength enhancer on himself, turning him insane and making him extremely powerful. Both projects pushed their release dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [63][64] The film performed poorly at the box office, but has since been branded as being a cult film. [146] Dafoe once again collaborated with Ferrara on the drama Pasolini, in which he played Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini during his last days before his murder in 1975. His father was a surgeon and his mother a nurse so they weren’t at home a lot and the children raised themselves. With Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett. [120] Also in 2010, Dafoe began voicing Clarence, the Birds Eye polar bear mascot in the company's television commercials in the United Kingdom,[123] and narrated Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, a Ric Burns documentary about the history of the whaling industry in the United States. [135] Using motion-capture acting technology, Dafoe co-starred alongside Elliot Page in David Cage's video game Beyond: Two Souls (2013) as a paranormal activity researcher who acts as the surrogate-father-figure to a girl who possesses supernatural powers. The Boondock Saints was negatively received by film critics, largely for its extreme violence and lack of emotional depth, though some critics praised Dafoe's role in the film. The result, a crisply shot comedy about dead-end criminals in Texas, announced Anderson as a major talent; his next film, Rushmore, a wildly acclaimed, widescreen coming-of-age tale that introduced actor Jason Schwartzman and gave Bill Murray a critical comeback, cemented that reputation. [121][122] and starred in his wife Giada Colagrande's film A Woman. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office, with some audience members laughing during the sex scenes. Care to … Could be. Dafoe played a criminal who engages in a robbery with Cage's character before demonstrating his dark side. Dafoe co-starred as a man who kidnaps his former boss (played by Robert Redford) in exchange for a ransom. The film was excoriated by a Variety reviewer as a "wannabe haunted house tale laced with silly sex scenes" and an "embarrassment". [72] Dafoe played the supervillain the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire as the titular Marvel Comics superhero. [173] They divide their time between Rome,[177] New York City, and Los Angeles. [53] In 1997, Dafoe returned to playing a villainous role in the action thriller Speed 2: Cruise Control, expressing the necessity of appearing in both independent and blockbuster films. [12], Dafoe studied drama at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, but left after a year and a half to join the experimental theater company Theatre X in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before moving to New York in 1976. Get info about new releases, essays and interviews on the Current, Top 10 lists, and sales. His character was described as a "diminutive version of Dick Cheney, with wire-rimmed glasses and a fringe of white hair" by The Times writer Caryn James. [116] Dafoe reprised his role from The Boondock Saints in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, making a brief cameo appearance. Willem Dafoe, Actor: Spider-Man. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. [14], Dafoe began his film career in 1979, when he was cast in a supporting role in Michael Cimino's epic Western film Heaven's Gate. Willem Dafoe was 46 in Finding Nemo when he played the character 'Gill (voice)'.That was over 18 years ago in 2003. How [11] During an interview he explained that about half of the Dafoe family puts the emphasis on the first syllable of their surname, and the other half on the second. [138] Dafoe next appeared in Lars von Trier's two-part erotic art film Nymphomaniac, his third and final film release of 2013. "It's understandable, because he's one of the most accomplished actors in the business. [137] In Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace (2013), starring Christian Bale, Dafoe played the supporting role of a bookmaker running an illegal gambling operation. [133] Later in 2012, Dafoe co-starred in the low-budget crime thriller Tomorrow You're Gone with Stephen Dorff and Michelle Monaghan. [51] Next, he played a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative in the romantic war drama The English Patient, which starred Ralph Fiennes as desert explorer Count László Almásy. Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. [21], Dafoe's sole film release of 1986 was Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film Platoon, gaining him his widest exposure up to that point for playing the compassionate Sergeant Elias Grodin. ), Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, "William Dafoe's Obituary on Appleton Post-Crescent", "Actor Dafoe's Orlando Parents Support 'Last Temptation' Role", "Pancreas Transplant Director Donald Dafoe Joins Cedars-Sinai", Finally, The Truth Behind Willem Dafoe's First Name, "Mr Bean's Holiday – Willem Dafoe interview", "Willem Dafoe was fired from 'Heaven's Gate' cock fighting role", "To Live and Die in L.A. Movie Review (1985)", "Reality Of `Platoon` Is Steeped In Surreality", "Movie Review: 'Platoon': It's War At Ground Zero", "The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners", "Church Declares 'Last Temptation' Morally Offensive", "Mississippi Burning: a civil rights story of good intentions and suspect politics", "Willem Dafoe: Oscar's Enigmatic Underdog Wants to "Disappear, "How an All-American Boy Went to War and Lost His Faith", "Saturday Night At The Movies: What exactly was 'Arrive Alive,' and what happened? With a plan to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner, Oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) rallies a [46] Dafoe then co-starred in the spy thriller Clear and Present Danger (1994), an adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel of the name starring Harrison Ford as CIA operative Jack Ryan. “The Life Aquatic” is a delight, but it doesn’t feel as fresh and surprising as, say, “Rushmore” did. Although nothing concrete has been confirmed at … 18. American actor Willem Dafoe has a net worth of $40 million dollars, as of 2021. [81], The following year, Dafoe took on another villainous role in The Clearing, albeit with a more sympathetic approach. One of his brothers Donald is a transplant surgeon and a researcher. [71] He then starred opposite Haley Joel Osment in Edges of the Lord, playing a compassionate priest helping a young Jewish boy pose as a Catholic to protect him during Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland. Thanks largely in part to being cast in Spider-Man, which was an unprecedented success at the box office, and featuring in the sequels, Dafoe has accrued a substantial amount of wealth. He and his wife, director Giada Colagrande, have [98] Dafoe starred as the owner of a strip club in Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales (2007); Manohla Dargis praised his "twitchy, sympathetic performance" in the film. He played the "hilariously doltish" German first mate of a research vessel owned by the eponymous lead character, who is played by Bill Murray . [74][75] Conversely, critic A. O. Scott wrote that his performance was "uninspired and secondhand". The film received mixed reviews, although Peter Travers felt that he added a note of "vulnerability to the menace he has made his stock in trade". [151] Dafoe starred in the late Brazilian director's Héctor Babenco's final film My Hindu Friend (2015) as a film director close to death who befriends a Hindu 8-year-old boy while hospitalized. [158], In 2017, Dafoe co-starred in Sean Baker's drama The Florida Project as the manager of a motel in Kissimmee, Florida who houses a toxic mother and her six-year-old daughter. [91] Along with his wife Giada Colagrande, Dafoe co-wrote and starred in Before It Had a Name (2005), which Colagrande directed. [107], Dafoe appeared in seven films in 2009, the first of which was in Lars von Trier's experimental film Antichrist. [134], In 2013, Dafoe played a police officer in the supernatural thriller Odd Thomas, starring Anton Yelchin as the titular character that possesses supernatural powers to see the dead. Only after becoming an actor, he took the second interpretation as his stage name. Dafoe played the caretaker of a house that is inherited by the lover of its deceased owner, engaging in a sexual relationship with her. [56] For his next film, Affliction (1997), Dafoe worked with Paul Schrader for second time, playing the brother of Nick Nolte's character and served as the film's narrator. [83] Dafoe was next seen in the comedy-drama The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), his first of three films with director Wes Anderson. One of seven children of Muriel Isabel (born Sprissler) and Dr. William Alfred Dafoe, he recalled in 2009, "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much." [27][28] His second release of 1988 was Martin Scorsese's epic drama The Last Temptation of Christ, in which Dafoe portrayed Jesus. Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. William James "Willem" Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American-Italian actor. [39] He was due to star opposite Joan Cusack in the comedy Arrive Alive in 1991, but the film was cancelled during production. How Did Willem Dafoe Get So Rich? [38] Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman felt the role proved Dafoe as a "master of leering, fish-faced villainy". [84][85] Dafoe then had a small role as a tabloid magazine editor in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004), a biographical film about Howard Hughes starring Leonardo DiCaprio. [57] Also in 1997, Dafoe took on a voice acting role in an episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons titled "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", voicing the commandant of a military academy that Bart and Lisa Simpson are attending.