Why Willem Dafoe likes to play characters who die

If you've ever seen Willem Dafoe in a movie, you've probably seen him die. He's been stabbed, shot, blown up, crucified, burned alive and, in one memorable instance, hit with his own goblin-themed glider. (In another particularly memorable scene, he was even buried alive and then murdered with an axe.) “Name the movie: I'm Dead!” Dafoe once joked. Asked to explain his curious habit of dying, he blurted out, “They just always want to kill me!”

Dafoe certainly has a special talent for dying. His death in a hail of bullets in the movie “Platoon” created such a striking image that it became the movie's poster. But while his mastery of death scenes might encourage directors to cast him in characters who die dramatically, Dafoe himself has admitted that he is drawn to such roles.

In a recent interview with Empire MagazineDafoe was asked about Robert Eggers' 2022 film The Northman, in which he plays a jester who is killed (off-screen) early on but continues to act as the main character's spiritual guide in his new existence as a decapitated, mummified one. the head. Dafoe described his character's afterlife as “beautiful” and admitted it was “part of the allure” of the film:

“I mean, I knew there was going to be that little head and … you know, it's nice to have a good entrance and a good exit.”

Dying is certainly an effective and dramatic farewell, whether it's from a movie or a particularly boring party. But Dafoe's love of fictional deaths is more than a desire to go out in style.

Movies are a way for audiences to experience the thrill of adventure, the horror of horror, and the sadness of tragedy without putting their lives in danger. Actors have a similar appeal to them. When asked why he likes playing characters who die so much, Dafoe told Empire that “it raises the stakes.” He added:

“Everybody, unless they're asleep, has a fantasy about their own death. So when you're a minor fiction, you can imagine such a fantasy, imagine a version of what could happen to you even in such extreme cases, something about this experience is not normal.

Although no living person knows what it is like to die (at least not forever), the fear of dying is ingrained in us, and it is a very accessible emotion for actors like Defoe. Death itself is inevitable, and Dafoe sees death scenes in films as a kind of attempt at reality and a way to confront the fear of our own mortality. “To do (your own death) even without real risk or real reality is a beautiful exercise,” he explained. “I'm sure somewhere in different cultures there are some rituals that do this to help people prepare for their death.”

Empire interviewer Alex Godfrey later quoted a 1987 interview in which Dafoe said, “The show is like a life I'm raging on until it's over.” Asked if he still feels that way, the actor said: “Sometimes I feel that way (..) I'm a different person now, but it sounds good. I don't mind if it marks me.”