Willem Dafoe stopped by the Sarajevo Film Festival this week where the Poor Things and Nosferatu actor participated in a comprehensive masterclass about his career, working with David Lynch and why he felt criticism about Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ was “antisemitic.”
Speaking at the Bosnian Cultural Center on Thursday, the prolific actor said that The Last Temptation of Christ was one of his “favorite roles” because it was “so demanding.”
“We had very little resources,” he said. “We shot very fast and had no money but that was the only way to shoot it because we didn’t get distracted by the spectacle – we could only do what we do…There was a beauty, a grace and a simplicity to it.”
Dafoe continued that he believed that the controversial reactions to the title were “driven by the religious right who needed something to energize their cause.”
He added: “They complained about the idea of the movie. They hadn’t seen it and then it morphed into a strange thing about Jews in Hollywood and became an antisemitic thing. It snowballed. The perception is that it was the Catholic Church, and it wasn’t the Catholic Church. It was the fundamental right in America that started it. I was shocked because in an age of super violent movies and porn, this is a movie that was trying to address the nature of faith. It was a drag because it was a movie that I was very invested in.”
Dafoe, who has worked across more than 150 films in his career, also reminisced about his experience of working with Lynch on the 1990 film Wild at Heart.
“David Lynch was very unconventional – he was an artist,” said Dafoe. “He would not direct you conventionally. Sometimes he’d say very abstract things like, ‘Willem, you know, when you start this, you’re kind of green and then you become brown.’ I was good with that.’”
He recalled the late director had told him to “go to a dentist and get dentures” as his character in the film had rotten teeth.
“Actors do put limitations on themselves. I thought I would just color them but no, he wanted me to go to the dentist and get dentures that went over my teeth. I went and got them and the second I put them in my mouth, I couldn’t close my mouth.”
He continued: “That was such a lesson. Sometimes an external thing really opens up something in your imagination that completes the character.”
Dafoe, who is also set to receive an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award this week and is screening his latest title The Birthday Party at the festival, also told the audience about his experience of working on Oliver Stone’s iconic war title Platoon. When asked about filming the scene where his character is killed, he said: “The way it was constructed was very simple. It wasn’t really rehearsed. I had a very simple task: run for my life.”
He added: “And also, I’m detonating bullet hits on me so It’s a pure technical task. It’s like an athlete running from here to there. I’m not thinking about interpreting anything. I’m not thinking about the effect. I’m just trying to as gracefully and as clearly and as directly do this action.”
In 2017, Dafoe gave an interview with Larry King when he had claimed that the U.S. was “not going in the right direction” and when pressed on the issue and whether he believed that still to be true, the actor replied: “You’ve got to be kidding me with this question, right? If you know anything about me, and you do, that’s not a real question.”
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival wraps August 22.
The post Willem Dafoe On David Lynch, ‘Platoon’ & The “Antisemitic” Reaction To Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last Temptation Of Christ’ – Sarajevo appeared first on Deadline.
