Following tensions between Schechner and other members after they started staging their own productions outside of the group, Schechner left and the remaining members (including LeCompte and her ex-boyfriend Spalding Gray) renamed themselves The Wooster Group. [139], In 2013, Dafoe played a police officer in the supernatural thriller Odd Thomas, starring Anton Yelchin as the titular character that possesses supernatural powers to see the dead. I later realized or talked to people about this and MGM in the old days everybody was on contract and they would rehearse for weeks. [39] In the same year, Dafoe co-starred in David Lynch's crime film Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. The film received mixed reviews, although Peter Travers felt that he added a note of "vulnerability to the menace he has made his stock in trade". Dafoe gained wider attention for his role as the supervillain Norman Osborn / Green Goblin in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), a role he reprised in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Walter knew what he meantthat we were in a great position hereso he said, "We can do this two ways: present an idea now and get a deal done, or write a script on spec and get a lot more money." - Michael Par plays a biker who agrees to rescue his ex-girlfriend (a rocker played by Diane Lane) from kidnappers (led by Willem Dafoe). The film received a polarized response from critics and audiences,[113] receiving both applause and boos at the Cannes Film Festival and was called the "most shocking movie" to be shown at the festival because of its graphic sex scenes. Critic Stephen Holden wrote in his review of the film, "Even in the "toughest, most macho roles [Dafoe] retains a tinge of Christ-like sweetness and vulnerability". Dafoe played a criminal who engages in a robbery with Cage's character before demonstrating his dark side. I was like, "Jesus, this is incredible. Dafoe played the Norman Osborn incarnation of the Green Goblin, the billionaire founder and owner of the corporation Oscorp, becoming the Green Goblin after testing an unstable strength enhancer on himself, turning him insane and making him extremely powerful. 3 yr. ago. He was used to working with actors who had experience like Nick Nolte or David Carradine. Jimmy Iovine produced five of the songs for the film and the soundtrack album. The structural advantage of the old studio system we didn't have. The real Hollywood. The defeated gang carries their leader away. He played an underground fight promoter in Out of the Furnace (2013), the menacing employer of the sex-addicted main character in Nymphomaniac: Volume I (2013) and Nymphomaniac: Volume II (2013), a German banker in A Most Wanted Man (2014), a henchman in Andersons The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and an assassin in John Wick (2014). [135][136] Dafoe played Martian chieftain Tars Tarkas in the Disney film John Carter (2012), using motion capture to portray the multi-limbed character. The production employed 500 extras to play the citizens of the Richmond District. We're gonna have to re-build the Wiltern Theater, which they had taken down, it was a million dollars to re-do the ending and I felt all his hostility for Universal. [15] He continued his work with the group into the 2000s, well after establishing himself as a Hollywood film star. Raven meets with Ed Price, the head of the police department, and promises him no more trouble if he arranges for Tom to meet with him alone. So Walter said were going to make a high school movie that's also going to be a comic book and also going to be a musical. Streets of Fire was released in the United States on June 1, 1984, by Universal Pictures. [91][92] Dafoe co-starred in XXX: State of the Union (2005), an action film sequel starring Ice Cube in which Dafoe played a US Secretary of Defense attempting a coup d'tat against the President of the United States. In Richmond, a city district in a time period that resembles the 1950s (labelled "another time, another place"), Ellen Aim, lead singer of Ellen Aim and the Attackers, has returned home for a concert. We got the songs a lot of times just a few days before we shoot. Dafoe's co-star John Malkovich portrayed the film's director, F. W. Murnau. While Reva and McCoy go to the diner where Reva works, Tom acquires a cache of weapons, including a pump action shotgun, a revolver, and a lever action rifle. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film and Dafoe's performance received high praise. In the movie, the song is performed on stage at the end of the film by 'The Sorels', a fictional doo-wop-style group consisting of actors Stoney Jackson, Grand L. Bush, Mykelti Williamson, and Robert Townsend. "[4], The film went on to make a total of $8 million in North America, compared to a production budget of $14.5 million. Walter Hill later said he felt "humbled" by the shoot: I think I thought I could handle things. As the biker gang leader Raven Shaddock in STREETS OF FIRE, costume designer Marilyn Vance put him in black patent leather fisherman's waders. This cult favorite features a razor-sharp cast and original songs written by Jim Steinman, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty and Ry Cooder and performed by The Blasters and The Fixx. [5] More than 50 motorcycles and their drivers were featured as the Bombers, and were chosen from 200 members of real L.A.-based clubs like The Crusaders and The Heathens. . In 2009 Dafoe starred in von Triers controversial Antichrist, which centres on a couple who struggle to cope with the death of a child. Always night, just about. married to Giada Colagrande (2005present), This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Willem-Dafoe, Turner Classic Movies - Biography of Willem Dafoe. ActorAgeCheck Streets of Fire Release Date : Friday, June 1 1984 38 years ago Results: 47 Michael Par Tom Cody Michael Par was: 25 Thu, Oct 09 1958 Diane Lane Ellen Aim Diane Lane was: 19 Fri, Jan 22 1965 Rick Moranis Billy Fish Rick Moranis was: 31 Sat, Apr 18 1953 Amy Madigan McCoy [46] In his review of the film, Vincent Canby felt that Dafoe lacked sensuality in the role. You know, I was disappointed in one aspect: a voiceover from Tom's sister that we had, which Walter later decided to cut. Dafoe flourished as an actor in such big-budget mainstream films as Spider-Man (2002) and three of its sequels (2004, 2007, and 2021), in which he played the comic villain the Green Goblin; the animated Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel, Finding Dory (2016), for which he provided the voice of a fish; and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Wes Andersons comedy about an idiosyncratic marine documentary crew. [74], Dafoe played the supervillain the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire as the titular Marvel Comics superhero. McCoy also talks Tom into cutting her in for 10% in exchange for her help. Reply . [42] Dafoe had two lead roles in 1992. "[44][45], Dafoe next starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence (1993) with Madonna. [49] Dafoe portrayed the poet T. S. Eliot in the drama Tom & Viv (also in 1994), which tells the story of Eliot and his first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, who was played by Miranda Richardson. [20], Following a "blink-and-you-miss-it" cameo in The Hunger (1983), Dafoe again played the leader of a biker gang in Walter Hill's 1984 action film Streets of Fire. Witnessing this is Reva Cody, who telegrams her brother Tom, an ex-soldier and Ellen's ex-boyfriend, asking him to come home. A guy named Sean Daniels, who was head of production, one day said to me, well there is hostility because we understand you waited about eight months to come up with that final song and you never did it. [41] He was due to star opposite Joan Cusack in the comedy Arrive Alive in 1991, but the film was canceled during production. I got the gun. [11], When it came to casting the movie, Hill wanted to go with a young group of relative unknowns. The story concerns a lawyer, played by Dafoe, who engages in a sadomasochistic sexual relationship with the woman he is representing in a murder case. He's like John Ford. [11], Gross says Hill was making Brewster's Millions at the time. Dafoe played a paraplegic, wheelchair-using Vietnam veteran who befriends the film's subject Ron Kovic (played by Tom Cruise), another paraplegic veteran. Streets of Fire is a 1984 American neo-noir rock musical film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. William Dafoe in Streets of Fire (1984) This thread is archived . Gross says "There was always the idea that we were going to discover a new Steve McQueen, you know? The film was co-directed by Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery and paid homage to 1953 film The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando in a similar role. We sat down, I remember, in a little park. News Features Television Interviews Reviews Podcasts Trailers Awards Got a Tip? The Attackers were the real-life (Face to Face) bandmates of Sargent, who provided the lead vocals on Ellen's songs "Nowhere Fast", "Never Be You" and "Sorcerer", and supporting vocals on "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young". "[4], When the script was finished, they sent it to Paramount. Dafoe played a cold, domineering English professor who has a strained relationship with his family. There's gotta be a next project, and they're sitting there and there's so many lessons I learned during that movie. Always dark. [84] Dafoe lent his voice and likeness to the James Bond video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2004) as the villain Nikolai Diavolo. He had to do something like that, especially after what he had done in Hard Times (1975). Dafoes subsequent roles included a mercenary in pursuit of a Tasmanian tiger in the Australian thriller The Hunter (2011) and an animated Martian warrior, portrayed through the motion-capture technique, in the sci-fi adventure John Carter (2012). [73] He then starred opposite Haley Joel Osment in Edges of the Lord, playing a compassionate priest helping a young Jewish boy pose as a Catholic to protect him during Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland. The cameo was suggested by Dafoe, comparing it to the ghost of Hamlet's father visiting his son to ask him to avenge his death. "That broke my heartI hoped, by the time the movie finished, that it would be whipped into a shape and design that would have a real impact. "post 4 screen shots of your comfort movie Streets of Fire (1984) Avec Willem Dafoe jeune qui porte une salopette en cuir (oui)" Didn't know how to shoot music. "[5][9] Hill liked the idea and cast her. In 2019, he had a supporting role in Edward Norton's period crime drama Motherless Brooklyn where he played powerful developer Moses Randolph's "beaten and broken" brother. We don't get that. An unofficial sequel titled Road to Hell was made in 2008, directed by Albert Pyun, and with Par playing Tom Cody, and Deborah Van Valkenburgh playing his sister Reva Cody. [65][66] The film performed poorly at the box office, but has since been branded as being a cult film. "Don't ask me how to act! ancientdad Additional comment actions. And I felt, as I watched the post-production process going on, I just saw the film getting better and better. It's about excitement, it's about thrills. [36][37] Dafoe reunited with Platoon director Oliver Stone for a small appearance in the biographical war drama Born on the Fourth of July (1989). [123] Between October and December 2009, Dafoe appeared in Richard Foreman's surrealist play Idiot Savant at The Public Theater. [19] In 1982, Dafoe starred as the leader of an outlaw motorcycle club in the drama The Loveless, his first role as a leading man. The Ardmore Police roadblock was filmed near 6th street in East Los Angeles, near the flood basin. [86] Dafoe reprised his role as Norman Osborn in Spider-Man 2 (2004), appearing to his son Harry in an hallucination. [129], Dafoe's first of two leading roles in 2011 was in Abel Ferrara's apocalyptic drama 4:44 Last Day on Earth, his third film with Ferrara. Menu. [163], In 2017, Dafoe co-starred in Sean Baker's drama The Florida Project as the manager of a motel in Kissimmee, Florida who houses a toxic mother and her six-year-old daughter. It was so frustrating for me. [80], Later in 2002, Dafoe starred with Greg Kinnear in Paul Schrader's biographical film Auto Focus, Dafoe's third collaboration with Schrader. [191] They have since worked together on her films Before It Had a Name and A Woman. So we said here's what's going to be weird about the world of our movie: No one's going to be over 30. The same year, Dafoe played Vincent van Gogh in the biographical drama At Eternity's Gate, for which he received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination among other awards and accolades. William James Dafoe (/dfo/;[1] July 22, 1955) is an American actor. [6], During 48 Hours Gross said he thought that Hill had received "a bum rap on the woman question" over the years. Tom escapes on the one intact motorcycle and meets up with the others. This is a fairy tale. [103] In the same year, Dafoe voiced the main villain, an evil wizard, in the English dub of the Japanese animated fantasy film Tales from Earthsea,[104] had a supporting role as a US Senator in the drama The Walker, his fourth collaboration with Paul Schrader,[105] and took on the lead role in the psychological thriller Anamorph, in which Dafoe played a detective who notices the case he is investigating bears similarities to a previous case of his. I always said whenever someone says fantasy they immediately think of more Disney-esque. Rick Moranis, Diane Lane, and Willem Dafoe in the opening scene to 1984's Streets of Fire. [60] Following a villainous supporting role in the romantic mystery drama Lulu on the Bridge,[61] Dafoe starred alongside Christopher Walken and Asia Argento in Abel Ferrara's cyberpunk drama New Rose Hotel in 1998. Elias Grodin in Oliver Stones Platoon (1986), which earned Dafoe his first Academy Award nomination. A world where it's raining all the time. Streets of Fire was a big picture for me, and I was overwhelmed. [21] Dafoe starred alongside Judge Reinhold in Roadhouse 66 (1985) as a pair of yuppies who become stranded in a town on U.S. Route 66. [186][187] Amelia Emberwing of IGN praised the performances of Dafoe, Molina, and Foxx in No Way Home,[188] while Vulture's Bilge Ebiri said Dafoe "once again gets to have some modest fun with his character's divided self".[189]. He had his first leading role in the outlaw biker film The Loveless (1982) and then played supporting roles in Streets of Fire (1984) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), before his breakthrough roles in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Mississippi Burning (1988). The film was excoriated by a Variety reviewer as a "wannabe haunted house tale laced with silly sex scenes" and an "embarrassment". With the assistance of a hard-as-nails woman warrior (Madigan) and manager Billy Fish (Moranis), he enters a shocking world of neon-lit streets, fast cars, and killer assassins lurking around every corner. I'm not like a writer. And these comedians walk around, and they can say whatever they want. It's funny. I got those best friend of the leads, quirky, funny characters. It was painful. The role required Dafoe to wear an uncomfortable costume and mask that made it impossible to emote using his face, confining Dafoe to convey emotion through his voice and head movements. Or punch them. The first to be released, White Sands, saw Dafoe a play small-town sheriff who impersonates a dead man after finding his dead body and a suitcase containing $500,000 to solve the case, resulting in an FBI investigation. He was born on July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin as William James Dafoe. [185] Peter Travers of Good Morning America and Jade King at The Gamer praised Dafoe and Molina, with King asserting that the two "stole the show as Green Goblin and Doc Ock" and described the depictions as brilliant. He played an actor spending his last hours on Earth before the end of the world with his much-younger lover (played by Shanyn Leigh). It's not Chicago. In 1977 he moved to New York City and joined the Performance Group. In the cult film The Boondock Saints (1999), he portrayed a detective tracking down two renegade killers who believe their actions to be righteous. [116] During an interview with L Magazine, it was revealed Dafoe had a stand in for scenes where his character's penis was on screen as his own was too big. Daily, who played Baby Doll, says it was "a very frustrating thing for me" to not sing in the film "Because Diane Lane was singing, and I remember thinking 'Ah!' Streets of Fire (1984) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. [140] Using motion-capture acting technology, Dafoe co-starred alongside Elliot Page in David Cage's video game Beyond: Two Souls (2013) as a paranormal activity researcher who acts as the surrogate-father-figure to a girl who possesses supernatural powers. "He'd say it would be inappropriate to direct this movie if there were any blood", said Gross. It's really bad. [137] The film was a box office failure and ranks among the biggest box-office bombs of all time. The Card Counter - September 10th, 2021 (Post-Production) Suffice it to say, Willem Dafoe is quite chummy with writer-director Paul Schrader. In the film, Dafoe played a perverse businessman who hires Charlotte Gainsbourg's character to work as a debt collector using sex and sadomasochism. He asks me if I'm interested in writing the script with himI ask him is the Pope Catholic? Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. [19] Dafoe did not receive a credit for his work on the film. [178], In February 2021, it was announced that Dafoe will be co-starring alongside Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Yorgos Lanthimos's Poor Things. [94], With the avant-garde drama Manderlay in 2005, Dafoe began another actor-director collaboration, this time with Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. Actor: Spider-Man. And I thought that we had done what we set out to do. [24] He enjoyed the opportunity to play a heroic role and said the film gave him a chance to display his versatility, saying "I think all characters live in you. [56] The film starred Sandra Bullock and Jason Patric as a couple vacationing on a luxury cruise that has been hijacked by Dafoe's character, Geiger, a hacker that has programmed the ship to crash into an oil tanker. Raven : I can get guns smart guy, lots of 'em. Variety praised Dafoe's performance, writing, "Dafoe gives a disciplined and noteworthy portrayal of Ward", although they felt it was Hackman "who steals the picture". [5] The factory scenes that take place in the Battery were filmed at a rotting soap factory in Wilmington, California, for ten nights. [59] Also in 1997, Dafoe took on a voice acting role in an episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons titled "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", voicing the commandant of a military academy that Bart and Lisa Simpson are attending. "So we had the approval of sort of picking the person that Francis Ford Coppola picked. He was the only actor I found who was right for the part a striking combination of toughness and innocence. We had a very conscious design concept of the movie, but I think we didn't fully grasp how strong it would be, in terms of the combination of elements. "Joel got off the phone with Universal and said, 'We're dead.' I had never done a love scene beforeI really needed help to get through it. [118][119] Dafoe played a former vampire who has a cure that can save the human species in the science fiction horror film Daybreakers, which starred Ethan Hawke as a vampire hematologist. Diane Lane was, I think, eighteen. [69] Shadow of the Vampire, his final film of the year, saw him portray a fictionalized version of the German actor Max Schreck during the production of the 1922 horror film Nosferatu, in which Schreck starred as the vampire Count Orlok. Meanwhile Tom creates a diversion outside by shooting the gas tanks on the gang's motorcycles, and then rescues Ellen. [3] The film crew tarped-in the New Street and Brownstone street sets to double for the Richmond District setting, completely covering them so that night scenes could be filmed during the day. Perhaps his best-known role was as Sgt. [144] Also in 2013, Dafoe played the devil in a Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl commercial[145] and starred in three short student films as part of a competition sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey. [5][9][10], The film's title came from a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen on his 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town. Gross says they wanted Daryl Hannah but were unable to do a deal in time. [5], According to Gross, Hill wanted to make a film about the hero of the comic book, but since he did not like "any of the comic books" he had read he wanted it to be an original character. The film received mostly negative reviews, although the performances were generally praised. The Spider-Man: No Way Home star recently spoke about his willingness to return once again as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin . They were married on March 25, 2005. . [138] Later in 2012, Dafoe co-starred in the low-budget crime thriller Tomorrow You're Gone with Stephen Dorff and Michelle Monaghan. [4] Diane Lane read for the part when she was 18. Reva tries to convince Tom to rescue Ellen, but he refuses. The exterior of the Richmond Theater where Ellen Aim sings at the beginning of the film was shot on the backlot, with the interior done in the Wiltern Theater in L.A. for two weeks. Later that year he provided the voice of a rat in Fantastic Mr. Fox, Andersons animated film adaptation of Roald Dahls childrens book, and he appeared as a vampire hunter in the horror movie Daybreakers (2009). [112], Dafoe appeared in seven films in 2009, the first of which was in Lars von Trier's experimental film Antichrist. [19], The Blasters, who turned down the chance to appear in Hill's 48 Hours, appear in the film performing two songs. His director's chair was made out of leather and on the back of it read "Lone Wolf". To escape, the group hijacks the tour bus of a doo-wop group called the Sorels. The movie's bigness of sizecompositionallychanged the meaning of things and made it more of a fairy taleThe Warriors, it was bewoven with a unique sense of realism. [8] He recalled in 2009, "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much. I wasn't ready for that kind of crap. [5], Willem Dafoe was recommended by Kathryn Bigelow, who had just made a film with him. [33], They told me that it was going to be a trilogy. [53] Next, he played a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative in the romantic war drama The English Patient, which starred Ralph Fiennes as desert explorer Count Lszl Almsy. That whole scene was a Walter thing. [4], Gross also wrote that "there was a chance of something great, but early fundamental disappointment with key personnel (in that case the star, Michael Par) steeled all of us to face the chance that it might not turn out that way."[17]. [3] The studio claimed that they replaced Springsteen's song because it was a "downer". That said, he's still a pretty impressive physical specimen, and he often takes on roles where he needs to portray an intimidating. And we started giggling, in that way people do when things are terriblethere's the song in the movie called 'Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young'. Eliot coping with his wifes emotional disintegration in Tom and Viv (1994) and appeared in The English Patient (1996), an adaptation of the novel by Michael Ondaatje. His performance as a hotel manager in the latter film earned Dafoe his third Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, Ellen is on a train with Tom and McCoy, believing that Tom is leaving with her, but Tom knocks out Ellen and returns to town to confront Raven. It follows X (Dafoe) and Fox (Walken), a pair of corporate raiders attempting to lure a Japanese scientist from one megacorporation to another. "Willem and I have been quite friendly since Streets of Fire ," Hill told Forbes. [3], According to cinematographer Andrew Laszlo, the film's style was dictated by the story. "[4], Production began on location in Chicago in April 1983, then moved to Los Angeles for 45 days, and finally two weeks at a soap factory in Wilmington, California, with additional filming taking place at Universal Studios. Biography. [34] Dafoe was briefly considered for the role of the super-villain the Joker in the Tim Burton-directed superhero film Batman (1989), as screenwriter Sam Hamm noticed physical similarities, but was never offered the part that eventually went to Jack Nicholson. There he met the actress and director Elizabeth LeCompte, who founded the deconstructionist theatre company the Wooster Group, with which Dafoe later performed. [15], Par said that the original draft of the script had Tom Cody kill Raven with a knife. [47] Later in 1993, Dafoe appeared in a supporting role as Emit Flesti (an anagram of Time Itself) in the German fantasy film Faraway, So Close!, directed by Wim Wenders. Tom Cody : I think you're forgettin' somethin'. [83] The murder mystery The Reckoning was Dafoe's final film of 2003, in which he starred with Paul Bettany. Dafoe plays John LeTour, the film's hero who is a 40-year-old high-class drug dealer (and a reformed addict) who searches aimlessly for purpose. I already had a great respect for people like Minnelli. [23] After 10 days, it made $4.5 million, while fellow opener Star Trek III: The Search for Spock grossed $34.8 million in the same time.
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