Willem Dafoe Talks ’The Lighthouse,’ ’Motherless Brooklyn,’ and His Love of Acting [The Fourth Wall]

With over a hundred acting credits to his name, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more productive actor in the business than Willem Dafoe. From superhero blockbusters to prestige pictures, to anime adaptations, to video games, to a nautical descent into madness, Dafoe has done it all, and now the actor joins me for this special episode of The Fourth Wall to discuss his incredible year between "The Lighthouse" and "Motherless Brooklyn."

It was only last year that Dafoe garnered awards recognition by way of a Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in "At Eternity's Gate" and Best Supporting Actor the year prior for his work in "The Florida Project." While the 2020 Awards Season is still young, Oscar Buzz has been circling the actor yet again for his salty Shakespearean lighthouse keeper in Robert Eggers' "The Lighthouse" ever since it's premiere at Sundance earlier this year. There's no doubt that Dafoe's proven ability and desire to select distinct and interesting projects has allowed him to deliver some of his best work to date as of late. However, what's truly captivating about the 64-year-old as a performer is his unabashed love of the art form. It's precisely this passion that seeps into each of Dafoe's performances and is what's driven the actor to remain consistently active as he broadens his horizons.

During our conversation, we discussed Dafoe's love of acting, his drive to remain busy, creative differences between playing characters based off of existing source material vs. wholly original ones, his process for delivering "The Lighthouse's" epic monologues, working with both Edward Norton the director and actor, his excitement for collaborating with Guillermo del Toro on "Nightmare Ally" and much more.

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