One of the most versatile actors working today, Willem Dafoe is a true acting everyman. Originally having gotten his start in theater in his home state of Wisconsin before moving to New York to make the transition into film, Dafoe now finds himself balancing between starring in bombastic blockbusters to acclaimed independent cinema.
With a filmography that boasts over a hundred films, with more on the way including Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, there is no shortage of acclaimed roles to be examined. Here are the ten best Willem Dafoe roles according to IMDB.
Spider-Man (2002): 7.3
Perhaps Dafoe’s best-known role among many fans is his sinister portrayal of Norman Osborn, also known as the Green Goblin, nemesis to Spider-Man. The iconic Goblin armor suit was made up of 580 individual pieces and took half an hour to put on.
Though uncomfortable Dafoe insisted on wearing the suit believing that a stuntman would be unable to correctly portray Osborn’s body language. Spider-Man became the first film to reach $100 million in a single weekend and its monumental success spawned two sequels and redefined the modern superhero film.
John Wick (2014): 7.4
There are many great performances in the monumentally successful John Wick which focuses on a deadly assassin bent on revenge when his home is broken into, his car stolen, and his puppy killed.
In John Wick Dafoe plays Marcus, a battle-hardened member of the old guard of assassins and father figure for Wick. Of the film Dafoe has commented, “The action is a real nice mix of martial arts and gunplay — you have the grace of martial arts, but then the bang of the gun”. The fourth film in the series is scheduled for release next year.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): 7.6
Perhaps Dafoe’s most controversial role is that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in Martin Scorsese’s epic religious drama The Last Temptation of Christ. The film explores the life of Christ and the temptations which he struggles with before his ultimate crucifixion.
The film while critically successful in the eyes of many, especially with regard to Dafoe’s performance, was not universally loved. The film inspired several protests, numerous bans, death threats targeted at Scorsese, and even a terrorist attack at a Paris cinema.
The Florida Project (2017): 7.6
The Florida Project is a heart-wrenching drama that follows a young girl, Moonee, and her delinquent mother around their impoverished Kissimmee, Florida neighborhood struggling to make ends meet. Willem Dafoe plays Bobby Hicks, the manager of the hotel where Moonee and her mother live.
His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The title of the film refers to the original name for Walt Disney World which exists as a contrast to the squalor experienced by the characters in the film.
The Lighthouse (2019): 7.6
The Lighthouse is a surrealistic tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote New England island in the 1890s. Dafoe stars, alongside Robert Pattinson, as Thomas Wake a grizzled lighthouse keeper.
The two find themselves dealing with more than just the maintenance of the eerie tower due to extreme weather, isolation, vice, superstition, and hallucinatory vision which makes the two descend slowly into the throws of madness. In the film, Dafoe speaks in gritty soliloquies that are spoken using the dialect of the Atlantic sailors and fishermen of the period.
Mississippi Burning (1988): 7.8
Another role of Dafoe’s that became embroiled in controversy is that of Agent Alan Ward in the biographical crime thriller Mississippi Burning. The film is based on an infamous 1964 murder investigation that rocked a Mississippi town with Dafoe’s character based on the real Joseph Sullivan.
While the film received mixed reviews and controversy for its fictionalization of historical civil rights events it was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won one for Best Cinematography. In preparation for the role, Dafoe did a great deal of research on the case, the time period, and Neshoba County, Mississippi.
The Boondock Saints (1999): 7.8
The Boondock Saints is an action thriller about two Boston vigilantes attempting to rid their city of crime and corruption after accidentally killing two members of the mafia. Dafoe plays FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker, the agent assigned to the two mafia members.
Although the film was a critical and commercial failure upon its release, earning only $30,471 at the box office, its success on home video cemented its place as a cult classic. Dafoe only appears in an uncredited cameo in the sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.
Platoon (1986): 8.1
Platoon is often lauded as one of the best war films ever created. Dafoe stars as the idealistic Sergeant Elias Grodin in the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. The film won Best Director and Best Picture and for his role, Dafoe was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards.
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The main cast was put through an immersive thirty-day military training regiment prior to filming. According to Dafoe, “the training was very important to the making of the film…by the time you got through the training and through the film, you had a relationship to the weapon”.
Togo (2019): 8.1
Togo is the story of musher Leonhard Seppala and his sled dog Togo and the famous 1925 sled run to Nome, Alaska to transport a diphtheria antitoxin.
While the film remains historically accurate for the most part one detail that was embellished was the number of dogs on Seppala’s team during the nearly 850-mile journey. The film depicts a team of eleven when in actuality there were only six. The exciting and literal underdog story has been met with critical success.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014): 8.1
Wes Anderson’s quirky dramatic comedy about a concierge and lobby boy who must come together in order to prove the innocence of the concierge after he is framed for the murder of a hotel guest has an ensemble cast. Dafoe plays J.G. Jopling, an assassin hired by the son of the hotel owner.
The Grand Budapest Hotel won five BAFTAs and four Academy Awards for Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design. Dafoe will be working with Anderson again in his upcoming film The French Dispatch.