Willem Dafoe, the crown prince of immersive portrayals, as labeled by Evan Louison in the piece referenced before, bears a striking resemblance to Pasolini at the time of PPP’s death – almost all the film’s reviewers agree on this point. Check the photos or the video links at the end of this piece and decide for yourself. More importantly, it’s how Willem got into Pasolini’s head that gives his performance authenticity. From his notes on the role below, one can see he shares Pasolini’s individualistic humanist perspective, which opposes the worst tendencies of modern society’s evolution. Dafoe’s extensive credits, accumulated working with a number of the best directors of the past three decades, certainly has provided him both a conscious and unconscious feel for the persona of, an auteur like Pasolini.
Spiderman’s Favorite Villain
In 1979, Dafoe was given a small role, in Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, from which, he was fired. His first feature role came, shortly after, inKathryn Bigelow’s The Loveless (1981). From there, he went on to perform in over 80 films – including Spider-Man (2002, 2004, 2007), The English Patient (1996), Finding Nemo (2003),Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2003), Clear And Present Danger (1994), Mississippi Burning(1988), Streets Of Fire (1984), American Dreamz(2006), The Boondock Saints (1999), and American Psycho (2000). Dafoe has worked in many, important international productions, among them: Theo Angelopoulos’ The Dust Of Time (2008), Yim Ho’s Pavillion Of Women(2001), Yurek Bogayevicz’s Edges Of The Lord(2001), Wim Wenders’ Faraway, So Close(1993), Nobuhiro Suwa’s segment of Paris Je t’aime (2006), Brian Gilbert’s Tom & Viv (1994)… Christian Carion’s Farewell (2009) and Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007), the Spierig Brothers’ Daybreakers (2009) and Daniel Nettheim’s The Hunter (2011). He selects projects based on the diversity of roles and opportunities to work with strong directors. He’s acted, in the following movies: Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic (2004), The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (2004), The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988), Spike Lee’s Inside Man (2006),Julian Schnabel’s Miral (2010) and Basquiat (1996), Paul Schrader’s Affliction (1997), Light Sleeper(1992), The Walker (2007), and Adam Resurrected (2008). Dafoe, has also performed in: David Cronenberg’s Existenz (1999), Abel Ferrara’s 4:44: The Last Day on Earth, Go Go Tales and New Rose Hotel, David Lynch’s Wild At Heart (1990), and William Friedkin’s To Live And Die In LA (1985). The list continues: Werner Herzog’s My Son My Son What Have Ye Done (2009), Oliver Stone’s Born On The Fourth Of July (1989) and Platoon (1986), Giada Colagrande’s A Woman and Before It Had A Name (2005) and Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (2009) and Manderlay (2005). He was twice nominated for an Academy Award (Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire in 2000) and once for a Golden Globe in 2001. Among over 40 different prestigious nominations and/or awards, he received an LA Film Critics Award in2000 and an Independent Spirit Award in 2001. Most recently, he has appeared in Anton Corbjin’s A Most Wanted Man (2014), Josh Boone’s The Fault in Our Stars (2014), Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac(2013), Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace (2013),Chris Brinker’s Bad Country (2014) and David Leitch and Chad Stahelski’s John Wick (2014). Dafoe is one of the founding members of The Wooster Group – the New York based experimental theatre collective. He created and performed in all of the group’s work from 1977 through 2005, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Mario Braucci, being as involved in the production of Pasolini as much as any writer could, conducted an excellent interview with Dafoe, which I have excerpted:
Dafoe Inhabiting Pasolini’s Mind
Dafoe: Concentrating on, his last day gave us a structure, and using those events and including suggestions of his projects current to that day, Salò, Petrolio and PTK, we set out to create a portrait. We imagine his state of mind on the last day of his life. So the performance was not an imitation or interpretation of who he was, but more a record of me inhabiting the actions and thoughts of a man that happened to be Pier Paolo Pasolini. When you are learning things, being inspired and educated, by such a visionary thinker and artist that opens you up, to challenge and change your thoughts. That is the heart, of the personal transformation, that fuels the interior life of the performance.
In approaching the role of Pasolini, I had to be free of the pressure of representing a much loved, almost holy figure. Like with Jesus: I wasn’t playing THE Jesus, I was playing a Jesus. It may sound coy but it was the same with Pasolini. Of course, the preparation for these two roles couldn’t have been more different. But with both, I had to cleanse myself of an expectation, or any images or thoughts I had of the figure before, and work from zero.
Dafoe/Pasolini – Visualizing a Sound Mix
We were making a film and had to create our own reality. However, we wanted to be guided by, as many facts as possible and not consciously invent things without a factual base. We very much depended on the information, memories, stories and opinions of Pasolini’s surviving friends and family and were blessed by their generosity. The invention comes unconsciously in the gaps between the facts, the poetry, the inability to reproduce and the reflections on his life.
As much as possible, we used the actual locations of real life events and even PPP’s personal objects and clothes that friends and family gave us. These relics have great power and magic, and help in making contact with the past. I am like a medium inviting something to appear through my committed actions.
The extreme divisions between different aspects of his life, though not at all a secret, were separate and discrete. Yet, there didn’t seem to be any denial: one part of his life made space for and fed the other. They were connected. He was able to serve so many masters of his heart and body, even if they seemed so contradictory.
Willem Dafoe, the crown prince of immersive portrayals
How did I feel playing him? I didn’t “play” him. I just tried to be his flesh, his voice, his presence in the last day of his life…
He was inspiring in his work, courageous in his life and a visionary thinker. He foresaw an anthropological evolution of Italian culture that is still happening…
Geoff Andrews, from the aforementioned article: Pasolini’s belief that the working class b
