For years, actor Willem Dafoe has captivated audiences with roles that push the boundaries of the craft. In Anamorph, the chameleon continues. Here, he spills his guts over everything.
Nick Haramis
April 16, 2008
“Oh, the script girl. I'll eat her later.” It’s a perfect moment. With that one delicious line from Shadow of the Vampire, Willem Dafoe bares his camp fangs, and, immediately, we're at his mercy. The words are ridiculous, deliberately so. But as they spill from Dafoe’s crimson mouth, they are somehow elevated, not into the sacred, exactly, but far from the profane.
And this has always been his secret weapon. Throughout what has become a breathtaking career, the 52-year-old, two-time Academy Award nominee has managed to imbue even the most cartoonish of characters with cerebral depth. To wit: In Anamorph, a neo-noir inspired by the French policier genre, Dafoe plays a troubled cop trying to solve a series of murders based on the concept of anamorphosis. As one would expect, it’s a heady brew of introspection, epiphany, and J. Alfred Prufrock impotence. Below, Dafoe takes us on a trip to the dark side.
