Willem Dafoe

Sometimes you feel like you have to do research to make something, other times you know you don't feel it so much.

— Willem Dafoe

I set myself challenges every time I work. Ideally, I approach everything as though it's the first time - with a beginner's…

— Willem Dafoe

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.

— Willem Dafoe

The truth is, if you're around long enough, you have a story about everyone. But it's best to keep your mouth shut…

— Willem Dafoe

In my experience, sometimes a movie just hits at the wrong time, gets the wrong press, or gets the wrong representation, and…

— Willem Dafoe

It's no fun for an actor to keep repeating what you did before. It's always changing. I'm changing. The target keeps moving.…

— Willem Dafoe

I think back story can help guide your choices, but when you're playing a scene, you're not making choices; you're just intuitive.

— Willem Dafoe

I'm not attracted to naturalism, I'm not attracted to behavior, I'm attracted to dance. I'm attracted to gesture, I'm attracted to singing…

— Willem Dafoe

If you get stuck and it feels a little stiff, then you do have to mess it up to find it. But…

— Willem Dafoe

Film is an editor's medium. You can create very good raw material and they can make it horrible, or you can do…

— Willem Dafoe

The Midwest isn't somewhere you mix with those from the performing arts. But my mum and dad would go off to Chicago…

— Willem Dafoe

I don't have a preference between theatre and film; I like to do both. But I will say that there's something about…

— Willem Dafoe

I'm one of those people who when I go over a bridge, I want to jump. It's just this intense tickle in…

— Willem Dafoe

I think, as I've gotten older, I've been able to be more reckless with my choices, because practically speaking, you get less…

— Willem Dafoe

I knew very little about 'Spider-Man'. I grew up more in the 'Superman' generation. 'Spider-Man' - I didn't know so much. But…

— Willem Dafoe

The truth is I like the crazy ones better than the well-behaved ones normally because they tend to be the passionate ones.…

— Willem Dafoe

When you work on anything, you want to find the range of impulses - which ones get portrayed is another question, but…

— Willem Dafoe

For every role, you have to always find a different way to approach it, one that's specific and suits what the key…

— Willem Dafoe

I love Sam Neill. The thing that I always say about him, and I think it's true, is he's so dry. When…

— Willem Dafoe

It makes me laugh when I hear a guy talking about being in touch with his feminine side. But I gravitate towards…

— Willem Dafoe

One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look…

— Willem Dafoe

That's a frustration sometimes, that certain directors that I'd like to work with, they just aren't doing stories that I'm sort of…

— Willem Dafoe

I feel like it's important to be flexible, particularly when I'm coming in late in the game and I'm connective tissue in…

— Willem Dafoe

I'm an optimist. I hope if a movie's good that it will be a success, but as we know, that's not always…

— Willem Dafoe

Trust is always a factor. You've just got to look at the big picture, and you've got to look at the small…

— Willem Dafoe

Mounting those red stairs [in Cannes] is something I've done with a very different intention many times. So it's interesting any time…

— Willem Dafoe

Sometimes I think women are lucky because they can develop in ways men can't. The old-boy network may be oppressive to women,…

— Willem Dafoe

I don't worry so much about the audience. I want them very much to be involved and enjoy the movie, but I…

— Willem Dafoe

The real difficulty for smaller films, when they're made independently and it's time to go for a distributor, sometimes if it's a…

— Willem Dafoe

I do know that I like to play characters that are sometimes a little on the outside - that's because it feels…

— Willem Dafoe