- 7 hours ago
In THR's interview series, "In Studio," the actor stops by to talk about his new film 'The Florida Project' and more.
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00:03Hey everyone, I'm Natalie Heltzel with The Hollywood Reporter and I'm here with Willem Dafoe.
00:08How are you?
00:09Good.
00:09Thanks for being here.
00:10Sure.
00:11So you're in a new film called The Florida Project.
00:14Yes.
00:15Can you just quickly tell us a little bit about the film, what the story is?
00:19The story, first I'll tell you where it takes place and that tells a lot about the story.
00:23It takes place in central Florida, just outside of the amusement parks and Disney World and
00:30the other attractions, in a budget tourist motel called The Magic Castle.
00:36And in that budget tourist motel live a lot of families that don't have a permanent residence.
00:45There are long-term, temporary residents at this motel.
00:49And it's a very precarious lifestyle because they don't have a home.
00:55And a lot of the film is seen through the kids that live there.
01:00And it's a world that's revealed to you.
01:04I play the manager of the motel.
01:07And it basically focuses on the mother and daughter relationship of this one family and
01:16interactions with the various people in the motel trying to cope.
01:21Great.
01:22And what drew you to this film and this character, Bobby?
01:27You know, many things.
01:29I mean, I liked Sean Baker's film Tangerine.
01:33Also, when I met with him and he talked about how he was going to make this film, it all
01:37appealed to me.
01:38Very strong script that he wrote with his co-writer, Chris Bergosh.
01:45And the character, you never know what it is until you do it.
01:50But I just liked the whole project.
01:52Also, it introduced me to a world that I didn't know.
01:56I've got family that lives down in that area.
02:00So I do know that area, but I didn't know that area, that world.
02:05And it's not just in Florida.
02:07It's in many places after the economic crash and the housing crisis.
02:13A lot of people struggle to get a permanent place to live.
02:19And what that means is it sets off a cycle of a way of living that's very precarious and makes
02:27them very vulnerable.
02:28And that's the world we're entering.
02:30But we're also seeing it through the eyes of kids.
02:33And they're on summer vacation.
02:36They're hanging out.
02:37They're going through the woods.
02:38They're hassling people in that motel.
02:40Causing some trouble.
02:42Causing me and my character a lot of trouble.
02:46And that's sort of the world.
02:49You mentioned you liked the script.
02:52After seeing the movie, so much of it feels natural and improvised almost.
02:58Was the entire script there to begin with?
03:01A lot of the script was there.
03:02And then it was supplemented by opportunities and improvisations
03:08and sometimes alternative takes where you basically get a take.
03:12And then they'd say, do one in your own words.
03:15Or mess it up.
03:16Or forget the lines.
03:17Or, you know, you'd have another approach.
03:20But it was pretty strong script.
03:24That was the structure.
03:26But then Sean is very good at seeing something happening and, like, taking advantage of it.
03:34Whether it's, you know, storks going into that.
03:37I mean, ibises, whatever these birds are going into the parking lot.
03:41Or a beautiful light.
03:43Yeah.
03:44Or just an opportunity of something happening.
03:47Because we're shooting in a real place that is functioning as a motel.
03:53Oh, wow.
03:53I mean, there were people living there in this situation.
03:57What was it like shooting with people actually living there?
03:59Well, you know, they helped us.
04:00They helped us.
04:01And it was also important because, you know, you make something about the way people live.
04:08And it's easy to talk about them and us.
04:11But after a while, they were helping us.
04:13They were there.
04:14They were guiding us.
04:15Them became us, you know.
04:18Right.
04:18There was no distance.
04:19We got to know them.
04:21They kind of kept us honest on the reality of what the world was.
04:27And it was really a great, great experience.
04:32And you work with some very young actors.
04:36Like Brooklyn Prince.
04:38Yes.
04:38She's amazing.
04:39Yes, she is.
04:40I won't give it away.
04:41But she goes through so many different levels in the movie.
04:46And to see a child do that kind of acting was very impressive.
04:53What was it like on your side working with her?
04:55Good.
04:56I mean, Brooklyn's a special case because she's kind of a natural performer.
04:59And she's quite a character, so she's been performing from the get-go as far as I know.
05:05And she is an actress.
05:07Most of the kids in the movie are kids.
05:11And they're performing for this particular movie.
05:15Brooklyn has done other movies.
05:17She came in through a traditional casting process.
05:20She's an actress.
05:22She's a little actress.
05:23But she's a kid first.
05:25And Shawn, it's not an actress-y performance, you know.
05:30She's a kid first.
05:31Yeah.
05:32But it's interesting that the cast is a combination of people found on Instagram, street casting,
05:40professional actors, non-professional actors, found types, and the people that were living and working at the motel.
05:48It all blends together really well.
05:51So that makes sense.
05:53And also, the other main actress in the film, Greena, she plays Brooklyn's mom.
06:02The character's name is Hayley.
06:03What was it like?
06:04I believe this is her first acting credit.
06:06It is.
06:07What's it like?
06:07You're such a seasoned actor.
06:10I don't know if you hear that word all the time, but you're a very seasoned actor.
06:13Okay.
06:14I'm spicy.
06:16That's exactly what I meant.
06:18But what's it like working with someone who it's their first credit and she's just such a character.
06:24In this case, beautiful, because they both were cast well.
06:28Everybody was cast well.
06:29And also, Shawn is a great filmmaker.
06:31He really is.
06:36He really knows how to set people up.
06:38And Brea is, I didn't know where she came from.
06:42I played a scene with her before I got to know her.
06:45And when I played a scene with her, I thought, wow, would they find this woman?
06:49Is she from here?
06:51Is, you know, she didn't feel like an actress.
06:54Right.
06:55She felt like a person.
06:57Ah.
06:58Nice, huh?
06:59Yeah.
06:59And just like the kids didn't feel like little actors, they felt like people.
07:03So, of course, I, you know, I like those situations.
07:08I always, in all movies, most movies, not all, but most movies, you want to get that actor smell off
07:19you.
07:19You know, you want to forget you're an actor.
07:22You don't want to see a performance.
07:23You want to see people up there.
07:25And so it's a pleasure.
07:29It was fun.
07:30We were, it was a tight little group making a movie, sometimes traditionally, sometimes very experimentally.
07:39You've worked with a lot of directors.
07:43What do you think you get out of independent film?
07:47Because I also noticed a pattern where you have, you do, you know, you can do major, more studio movies.
07:53And then in the same year, right around the same time, you have, you know, it's Spider-Man autofocus.
07:59Yeah, yeah.
07:59Finding Nemo, Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
08:01Right.
08:02What, what do you get from an independent film that you don't think you can get from a studio film?
08:09Um, oh God.
08:11You know, every film's different.
08:13But I think with independent films, they tend to be slightly more personal.
08:18They slightly be, tend to be more risky.
08:21Uh, they tend to be less defined.
08:24Um, not always.
08:26There are exceptions.
08:27You can't speak generally.
08:29But, um, you know, I'm attracted more to independent film.
08:33Because by the very nature of the industry, if it's a big budget movie, you have a responsibility
08:40to return that investment by assuring that, um, there will be a large public.
08:47So there's a certain kind of calculation, a certain kind of responsibility.
08:51There's a certain kind of understanding that you have to tell a story or show something that people will accept.
08:59So, there's less possibility to challenge.
09:03There's less possibility to frighten.
09:05There's less possibility to, to risk.
09:09Um, but that's okay.
09:11Uh, movies can be all kinds of things.
09:14And that's why I like to go from different kinds of movies.
09:17Not only for my, my interest, but also my health as an actor.
09:22And, um, it's fun to be with different kinds of people and exercise different muscles.
09:27You know?
09:27Keeps you on your toes.
09:28Yeah.
09:29So don't get me wrong.
09:30I, I, I'm sometimes very happy in Hollywood movies.
09:33But it's clear that it's a product.
09:36It's an industry product.
09:37You have professionals calculating something, making something, that they're crafting into
09:44something that can sell.
09:45Now, independents have the same kind of economic pressures.
09:49But there's some possibility sometimes, particularly at a lower budget, to let the, um, director, particularly
09:58if he's an auteur like Sean, who's a writer, director, and editor, let them go.
10:04Let them make something that's personal to them.
10:07And hopefully, it'll be, you know, it'll be true enough that it'll resonate with other
10:13people.
10:14And I, you know, for me, I think this is what's happened with the Florida Project, because
10:21it surprises me.
10:23It, um, it, uh, really creeps up on people, and it feels like it's got its finger on something
10:28that's happening now.
10:29And it also is a film that, um, has a social reality that few films have right now.
10:38So, I value my participation, and I value seeing it, and I hope it, it gets seen, because
10:44I think, um, people need that emotional connection.
10:47They need that human dimension.
10:50They need that contact.
10:51Because every day, through our development, we're losing that.
10:56Yeah.
10:57Yeah, the director, uh, Sean Baker, his films are like a slice of life.
11:02Um, and a lot of them, you don't, uh, are worlds that no one has seen before.
11:08Right.
11:08Um, and this one especially, it was very, it was eye-opening, it was really raw.
11:13Um, did you feel that when you were on set?
11:15I mean, apparently, you know, you said you were with the actual people who live there
11:19and are living this life.
11:20Yeah, so you don't, you don't.
11:21And, you know, it's like, I was being a motel manager.
11:24I was with people that I liked.
11:26We were telling a story that sometimes was tough, but it's also about living.
11:29You know, and those kids are cute.
11:31They're fun.
11:32Sometimes they're totally out of control.
11:34But that helps me, because that's my job in the movie.
11:38There were so many real-life parallels to what I had to do in the movie, and I always liked
11:43that.
11:44Were they getting rowdy during scenes?
11:46Absolutely.
11:47He'd let them, he'd get, they'd get away with murder.
11:50He doesn't have kids.
11:52I mean, they're so cute.
11:53I've got a kid and he's grown up, but, and I'm not particularly a rigid guy or disciplinarian
11:58or anything, but no, he let them run wild.
12:01And it kind of made me kind of corral him sometimes.
12:05Because we needed that energy.
12:07We had to let them go, you know.
12:08You didn't want to make them think they were making a movie.
12:11You wanted them to play.
12:12You wanted them to have fun.
12:14You wanted to have them be mischievous, strut their stuff, you know.
12:18That's what we wanted.
12:19Yeah.
12:20And we did it.
12:21Was there a particularly challenging scene for you?
12:25You know.
12:26You have a couple of, again, I don't want to do any spoilers, but you know, you have a couple
12:30of pretty powerful scenes.
12:32Good.
12:32You know, it's a role that's kind of like the connecting tissue of the movie.
12:40So there are no great big dramatic scenes or any great transformation, maybe.
12:46It was really about staying on it, you know, and keeping it kind of balanced.
12:50But there was a practical aspect of that.
12:52Because as I'm dealing with the different people, I have to adopt different strategies.
12:57And I'm not even thinking about that.
12:59I'm thinking like a motel manager.
13:01I'm thinking about, how do I get this woman to pay her rent?
13:04Because I've yelled at her, that's not working.
13:07I've got a sweet talker.
13:08I've got to cut her some slack and maybe then she'll, you know, feel like I'm not the enemy.
13:15All kinds of strategies.
13:16So it was always to find a variation in my approach to this.
13:22Otherwise, I would have just been yelling at everybody all the time.
13:25Yeah.
13:26Your character Bobby also keeps, he has to keep a bit of a distance and not get, you know,
13:32he, I think he can see himself getting emotionally involved.
13:36Oh, absolutely.
13:36And at the end of the day, it is his job though.
13:40You know, he doesn't live there.
13:41We don't see his actual home.
13:42He does live there.
13:42Oh, does he?
13:43He does live there.
13:43You see him walk into his apartment.
13:46Yeah.
13:46Oh, okay.
13:47It's not, you know, this movie has some air in it, you know.
13:50Yeah.
13:50It's not, we don't know exactly who Bobby is, but he does live there.
13:54Yeah.
13:54He's a little bit mysterious.
13:55Huh?
13:55I didn't even realize, yeah.
13:56Yeah.
13:57Mysterious guy, but.
13:58And there's a couple of scenes that you get a flavor of a past.
14:01You get a flavor of some disappointments in his life.
14:05But I think that is kind of true.
14:07Just remind you that he's, he's, he's one of them.
14:10And he's about a paycheck away from being them, you know.
14:13Right.
14:14So, it's that weird relationship that he's trying to always find the greater good.
14:19Because he represents running the community.
14:23And, but at the same time, he, he does like, love these people that he's around.
14:31And he tries to help them out.
14:33Sometimes he can, sometimes he can't.
14:34And so it has a real rooted kind of un, melodramatic, um, feel.
14:41And I, and I like how it kind of expresses the humble ambitions of, of a working class guy
14:50that's just trying to do a little better.
14:52You know, it's, for me, it's, it's touching.
14:54Um, because, you know, when I was, when I was, uh, interviewing, you know, when I was doing research
15:02and I was meeting some of these motel managers, the one common thing for all of them is they
15:07took pride in their jobs.
15:08And they were like, I'm taking care of these people.
15:11You should have seen this place before.
15:12It was a hell hole.
15:14But now, you know, it's getting, it's not perfect, but it's getting better.
15:17And so it was interesting.
15:20Do you watch it?
15:20Have you seen the movie?
15:21Do you watch your own films?
15:22I do.
15:23I mean, I see it, uh, see how it came out.
15:26And, uh, you know, see if, uh, yeah.
15:30And also just, I know I'm going to be talking about it.
15:33So I better know what the hell I'm talking about.
15:34You're like, I don't know what happened.
15:35Yeah, yeah.
15:35Well, tell me.
15:36I just went there and who knows what the end product is.
15:40How did it turn out, by the way?
15:42Yeah.
15:42Can you just let me know?
15:43Did I die?
15:44Can I prepare for this?
15:45Um, yeah.
15:47Well, I was just curious because, you know, some actors don't like to watch anything that
15:50they, I think Johnny Depp famously does not watch any.
15:53Who does?
15:53Johnny Depp, I think, does not watch any of his movies famously.
15:58Um, I do, but I don't obsess on them.
16:01I mean, I seem to see what happened.
16:03And it's very hard to see them as a, uh, as an audience because, um, you have too many
16:10associations of making it.
16:12And for me, always the making of it.
16:15And it makes sense because the life experience of making it is always more powerful than the
16:20movie, clearly.
16:21No matter how beautiful the movie is because you're talking about, you know, sometimes
16:25five months next to two hours.
16:27I mean, you know, and it's a record.
16:29It's not the experience itself.
16:30Right.
16:30Right.
16:31And it's mediated.
16:32Right.
16:33That is in here.
16:35This is in here.
16:37But it's also rearranged and made into something else.
16:42Yeah.
16:43Um, what is some advice that you like to give to young actors?
16:48I don't give any advice.
16:49Really?
16:49To young actors or young filmmakers?
16:52Um, just, no.
16:53No.
16:53Have you received any advice that's helped you?
16:56I haven't received any advice and I don't give out advice.
16:59I think, I think people have to kind of find their own way, but.
17:02Hey, that's advice.
17:03Ah, maybe.
17:04Find your own way.
17:05Uh, a little bit.
17:06No, but I do want to answer that in the, I do give one piece of advice.
17:13And I, the people starting out, I say go, go towards people that are doing, um, stuff that
17:21you admire or you like and just get close to them.
17:25Don't be a snob, you know.
17:27Start, you know, it's like, and this comes from my experience because I believe in apprenticeship,
17:32uh, my experience in the sense of, I started working in the theater, you know, very humbly
17:38working, doing carpentry work and doing errands and helping out and then there came that day.
17:45It's kind of like something out of a movie, you know, where they say, hey, Willem, we need
17:49somebody else to come in here, you know.
17:51And then you do a little bit more and you insinuate yourself into the fabric of that thing.
17:56So, when that happens, it better be a place you want to be and, and you feel connected to
18:01it, you know.
18:02So get around people that you admire and you'll, something will happen.
18:06Even if they repel you away, that's something happening.
18:09That puts you further down the line.
18:11But really say, who do I like?
18:13Who's doing work that I like?
18:15And get near it in whatever way you can.
18:17Is that true?
18:18Because I knew you started in theater.
18:20And I still do theater.
18:21I still do theater.
18:22That's right.
18:23Did you start with, just, uh, on a fluke like that?
18:26Did someone say, hey, can you get into this thing?
18:28Like for movies?
18:29For theater.
18:30Um, no, no.
18:31I, you know, I was one of these idiot.
18:33Yeah, I was one of these idiot kids that liked theater when he was young and did, you
18:37know, community theater and all that.
18:39Gotcha.
18:39But in a humble way because I grew up in Wisconsin and it's not exactly like the cultural capital
18:45of the world.
18:47Yeah, they have.
18:47But no, they have a lot.
18:49You know, a lot of stuff going on.
18:51Sure.
18:52Um, okay.
18:54In all seriousness, thank you for being here.
18:56Um, the movie is great.
18:58It's fantastic.
18:59You're fantastic in it.
19:00Um, I heard some, uh, rumors or, you know, some reviews rather about, uh, comparing it
19:08to Moonlight.
19:09There are just, there's a lot of buzz happening.
19:12Good.
19:13And I think it's all, um, for good reason.
19:16Good.
19:16So I hope everyone sees it and it opens, uh, Friday, October 6th.
19:21And, um,
19:21It goes wide.
19:22It starts out as a platform release and then it goes wider by the end of October.
19:26Oh, perfect.
19:26So it should be nationwide by the end of October.
19:28Perfect.
19:29Thank you so much again for being here.
19:30My pleasure.
19:31And, um, we will catch you next time.
19:33Okay, cool.
19:33Thanks everyone.
19:34Okay.
19:34Thanks.
19:34Thanks.
19:35Thanks.
19:35Thanks.
19:37Thanks.
19:37Thanks.
19:37Thanks.
19:38Thanks.
19:38Thanks.
19:40Thanks.
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