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" The English Patient' is about the coming together of a French-Canadian nurse, an English patient, a Sikh in a turban and me, Caravaggio, and each of us is seeking a resolution to our own problems. "

Willem Dafoe

Together

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" I am confident only when I am constantly in motion. Between projects, the doubt creeps in. "

" Sometimes I think women are lucky because they can develop in ways men can't. The old-boy network may be oppressive to women, but it actually stunts men in terms of personal growth. "

" I set myself challenges every time I work. Ideally, I approach everything as though it's the first time - with a beginner's mind and an amateur's love. "

" In order to inhabit a character, you've got to embrace and empathise with them. "

" I love doing action and stuff; the problem is usually action movies are not that interesting. Also as I get older I feel like there's less opportunities for me. "

" You can be intuitive when you've got a more expansive role. You can get into the poetry of telling the story rather than just pushing buttons. "

Willem Dafoe

Got

Role

" Weirdness is not my game. I'm just a square boy from Wisconsin. "

" A lot of critics are lazy. They don't want to look closely and analyze something for what it is. They take a quick first impression and then rush to compare it to something they've seen before. "

" You have to lose yourself to find yourself. "

" Any actor who tells you that he makes choices, absolutely, is wrong. You find work and work finds you. "

" I'm not attracted to naturalism, I'm not attracted to behavior, I'm attracted to dance. I'm attracted to gesture, I'm attracted to singing with your voice, as opposed to having a natural manner. I'm a theater actor first, so that probably influences a lot of my approach. And I think in many ways, naturalism has ruined movies. "

" In films you do a scene, you play around with it and unless you're doing a lot of reshooting, which no one has the luxury to do, you deal with the problem for a day and then you move on. On some level, it never allows you to go very deep into what performing is about. "

" My dad was a surgeon, my mom a nurse, and they were always out working. I had five sisters and a brother. They didn't care what I got up to. "

" When you work on anything, you want to find the range of impulses - which ones get portrayed is another question, but you want to have that complexity and that fullness, even if you're playing a cartoon character. "

" I've never had any close male friends. The most important relationships in my life have always been with women. "

" That's a frustration sometimes, that certain directors that I'd like to work with, they just aren't doing stories that I'm sort of castable in. Not always, but sometimes I have that frustration. "

" The worst thing is to get involved with people who aren't passionate about what they're doing. "

" It makes me laugh when I hear a guy talking about being in touch with his feminine side. But I gravitate towards women; I identify with them. And I do cry very easily, more and more as I get older. "

" Action breeds inspiration more than inspiration breeds action. "

Willem Dafoe

Inspiration

Breeds

" One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had and the different things I've learned. "

" Emotionally men and women are different, but only as a result of the physical differences. It all comes back to our bodies. "

" Plenty of bad movies are very successful, and plenty of good movies are not. And distribution is so crazy, some films won't even get their day in court. "

" Sometimes I say I feel more like a dancer than an actor, because there are things implied about being an actor that I don't really like. I feel more comfortable with the word 'performer'. I like being the thing. I like being the doer. There's a factualness to it. And then certain resonances happen out of how you apply yourself physically. "

" Celebrity is okay as long as you know it's not about you. "

" I think, as I've gotten older, I've been able to be more reckless with my choices, because practically speaking, you get less careful. Your choices become more instinctive, and you feel like if you make a mistake, it won't destroy you. "

" The director's very important to me, particularly when the director has a recognizable style. "

Willem Dafoe

Very

Style

" Truth is, generally I like film festivals; somewhere at some level there's an exchange of ideas. "

" Let's hope I never end up on a deserted island, because I could never make a decision on which three CDs to take with me. "

" I love theaters. I love the event of going there and seeing a movie with a lot of people. I like the community coming around the story. "

" I knew very little about 'Spider-Man'. I grew up more in the 'Superman' generation. 'Spider-Man' - I didn't know so much. But it is a really successful franchise, and I'm happy to be involved with it. "

Willem Dafoe

Generation

Successful