Four-time Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe (“Platoon,” “Poor Things”), one of this year’s recipients of an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for career achievement, took time between his sold-out masterclass and presenting Miguel Ángel Jimenez’s “The Birthday Party” to visit the Variety Lounge, presented by the Sarajevo Film Festival and BH Telecom.
The visit marked Dafoe’s return to the Bosnian capital 25 years after presenting Steve Buscemi’s “Animal Factory.” “The festival is really thriving and growing,” he observed. “I just had a talk, and it was a very enthusiastic reception. People are believers in cinema, so I’m always happy to go where those people are.”
The actor is, of course, very used to being on the festival trail. After Sarajevo, Dafoe will head to Venice to premiere Kent Jones’ “Late Fame” and Gastón Solnicki’s “The Souffleur,” then Toronto for Nadia Latif’s “The Man in My Basement.”
“Festivals are wildly important, particularly for small and international movies funded through co-productions,” he observed. “It’s important to get them seen, to get people behind them. It breaks your heart when you make something that you believe in, and you think it’s a beautiful film, and it doesn’t get seen. You do everything you can to try to help promote it.”
“Festivals introduce you to new filmmakers, and they also elevate the discourse about film, and that keeps film alive and happy,” he concluded.
Dafoe, whose career spans over five decades and over 150 projects, has worked with established filmmakers such as Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and William Friedkin, but also collaborated with first-time and up-and-coming directors, working with names such as Sean Baker and Robert Eggers early in their careers.
The actor said that experienced filmmakers have a “certain kind of expertise, of elevated craft.” “But sometimes they’ve seen better days, where younger people that are at the beginning of their careers are so turned on, and sometimes it’s good to not know any better. As you become seasoned, there’s a chance that a certain kind of corruption and routine can creep into your work. Younger directors have nothing to compare it to. They’re excited, and you slipstream that.”
As for the future of an industry he has been part of for almost half a century, Dafoe is concerned about the devaluing of the theatrical experience (“If you don’t pay attention, if you don’t go to the challenging films that require your attention, then you’re not going to be rewarded with a special experience. That’s what I worry about”) but also “turned on” about work he has lined up — amongst it, his new collaboration with Eggers, “Werwulf.”
“Film on some level is in crisis, but I’m finding a lot of great things to do and I’m excited,” he said.
