Words: Jonathan Wells
When it came to a cover shoot with Willem Dafoe, we didn’t know where to start. How could we sum up such an all-pervading career in just one photoshoot? Which of the actor’s tens of films should we touch upon in the interview? What would we possibly style Dafoe in — a man who has famously rocked everything from a Green Goblin suit to a crown of thorns?
Tricky it was; impossible it wasn’t. Because, once you get Willem Dafoe into a room, all of those questions melt away. He’ll act his way through a photoshoot so adeptly that you won’t even have to direct him. Those vast Dries van Noten trousers and vintage Dr Marten’s may have been striking stylistic choices, but no-one’s looking at them; they’re looking at his face. And the interview? If Willem Dafoe wants to spend an hour talking about the details of that face, let me tell you — you let him.
So, once you’ve read our cover interview — and subscribed to Gentleman’s Journal here — why not take a look at what the man himself is like on set? A whirling dervish of 64-year-old energy, watch Dafoe spin, dance and scale ladders in pursuit of the perfect shot. As Dafoe told us: “For me, the world is never dull. I’m never bored.”
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