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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Willem Dafoe

Walk

Someone

Shoes

" Film is an editor's medium. You can create very good raw material and they can make it horrible, or you can do not so well and they can make it beautiful. You don't really know. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" When I give over to somebody's vision rather than have an idea of what I need to do, it takes me to places I wouldn't have got to by myself. I'm always attracted to a strong director. "

" I don't have a preference between theatre and film; I like to do both. But I will say that there's something about theatre that is more nourishing and sustaining than film ever can be. "

" Turn off the sound in a movie, and if you can tell what's going on, the movie should work. "

" I do want to be in mainstream movies that are going to be seen. I suppose it satisfies the showbiz side of me. "

" Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to. "

Willem Dafoe

Theatre

World

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

" Basically, when I hear the words 'family drama,' I run in the opposite direction. "

" I wish to Christ I could make up a really great lie. Sometimes, after an interview, I say to myself, 'Man, you were so honest - can't you have some fun? Can't you do some really down and dirty lying?' But the puritan in me thinks that if I tell a lie, I'll be punished. "

Willem Dafoe

Man

Lie

" With theatre, you have to be ready for anything. "

" 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. "

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

" When I was a kid I was very interested in the idea of the will, finding out what you're capable of. I liked those kind of challenges. "

" The mask can be a limitation, but you just deal with it. You do get superhuman strength and pumpkin bombs and all this other stuff to express yourself with.' "

" I was born William. My father was William. I came from a big family, I hated being called Billy. Willem's a nickname; it's a Dutch name, very common in the Netherlands. "

" All the time, as an actor, you want to be asking what's next and where things are going. If you're not asking those questions, you're not growing. "

" 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. "

" In my experience, sometimes a movie just hits at the wrong time, gets the wrong press, or gets the wrong representation, and it gets misunderstood. "

" Corruption is something you face all the time. Avoid it. "

" I guess they often cast me as the bad guy, because I'm not, er, conventional looking. I look sort of violent. I'm the odd one out, the outsider. "

Willem Dafoe

Bad

Bad Guy

" I have no doubt that if I met Bob Dylan, it would be disappointing - and annoying to him. But that's why I like Bob Dylan. "

" I don't think people want to see me as a regular guy; besides, I'm a regular guy in real life. I guess I just want to be reckless in my work. "

" I think back story can help guide your choices, but when you're playing a scene, you're not making choices; you're just intuitive. "

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

" I'm an optimist. I hope if a movie's good that it will be a success, but as we know, that's not always true, just because of popular taste, advertising, distribution patterns - there's lots of reasons. "

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

Willem Dafoe

Very

Style