{"id":99438,"date":"2025-08-21T13:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/99438\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T13:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:47:07","slug":"willem-dafoe-on-antisemitic-reaction-to-last-temptation-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/99438\/","title":{"rendered":"Willem Dafoe on ‘Antisemitic’ Reaction to ‘Last Temptation of Christ’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWillem Dafoe<\/a>, who is at the Sarajevo Film Festival<\/a> to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award as well as support Miguel \u00c1ngel Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s \u201cThe Birthday Party,\u201d gave an in-depth career masterclass where he spoke about some of his most iconic roles. He also, very briefly, touched upon current American politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking about his Oscar-nominated role in Sean Baker\u2019s 2017 drama \u201cThe Florida Project,\u201d Dafoe was reminded of giving an interview to Larry King upon the film\u2019s release as the U.S. entered the first Trump administration. On the occasion, the actor said America was \u201cnot going in the right direction.\u201d When the moderator opened a space for the actor to reflect on whether or not he thinks the country is still misdirected, Dafoe kept quiet, before asking: \u201cYou gotta be kidding me with this question, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you know anything about me and you do, that\u2019s not a real question,\u201d he added simply, moving on to the next subject.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back at his career, the actor discussed another controversial subject: Martin Scorsese<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Last Temptation of Christ,\u201d where he played the titular role. The actor said he thought it was a \u201cbeautiful role,\u201d exploring \u201cthe human part of Jesus\u201d as a guy \u201cwho rejects the responsibility given to him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s one of my favourite roles because it was so demanding,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou\u2019re in every shot. We had very little resources, we shot very fast, no money, but that was the way to shoot it because we didn\u2019t get distracted by the spectacle. We could only do what we do. There was a beauty, a grace, and simplicity to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked if he thought the heated reaction to the film was shocking, the actor concurred, adding that the controversy was mostly \u201cdriven by the religious right who needed something to energize their cause.\u201d He added: \u201cThey complained about the idea of the movie. They hadn\u2019t seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThen it morphed into a strange thing about Jews in Hollywood and became an antisemitic thing,\u201d he added. \u201cIt snowballed. The perception is that it was the Catholic Church, and it wasn\u2019t the Catholic Church; it was the fundamental right in America that started [it]. I was shocked because in an age of super-violent movies and porn, this is a movie that was trying to address the nature of faith. It was a sincere attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe actor quipped when asked whether he \u201cenjoyed\u201d the experience of being crucified, saying it was \u201can experience.\u201d \u201cI put any of you up on a cross and you\u2019ll have an experience. In fact, if all of this goes to hell, I can find a patch of land and make it an experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCommenting on his role as Norman Osborn\/Green Goblin in Sam Raimi\u2019s \u201cSpider-Man,\u201d Dafoe said he \u201creally enjoyed playing that role, particularly the original one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe original \u2018Spider-Man\u2019 was a lot of fun because within a scene it could switch from very dramatic to very comic, which is very difficult to do. It\u2019s got a great sense of humor, but it\u2019s not light. And I like doing the action stuff. When the first \u2018Spider-Man\u2019 was made, you were still using wires. There was less CGI, and it was fun because it\u2019s athletic. It\u2019s very concrete, very tangible. Everything in your body and your mind goes towards that, and that\u2019s what you look for as an actor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn asking to do his own stunts, Dafoe said he doesn\u2019t \u201cwant gaps\u201d in his performance. \u201cYou want to take responsibility for everything so all the dots connect. When you\u2019re working on a role you don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s going to function or not, but the best you can do is be there for every action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe actor spoke about his frequent collaborators, such as Abel Ferrara (\u201cThe collaboration is very personal, and sometimes we go back and forth I don\u2019t know who the director is. It\u2019s very fluid\u201d) and Paul Schrader (\u201cHe\u2019s always got lots of ideas, but he doesn\u2019t work conventionally with actors. He expects you to know your job\u201d), as well as giving a small insight into Robert Eggers\u2019s next film, \u201cWerwulf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDafoe is currently in pre-production on his fourth collaboration with the English director, and said he loves working with Eggers because of his intricate research. \u201cHe\u2019s giving them material that excites me; it turns me on,\u201d he added. \u201cWho knew I had an interest in the 1300s in England? He seduces you into being in that world. He\u2019s a passionate, smart guy. I like his aesthetic sensibility, and he\u2019s very kind. He\u2019s a whole package.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willem Dafoe, who is at the Sarajevo Film Festival to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12,88,54421,48402,38736],"class_list":["post-99438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-martin-scorsese","tag-sarajevo-film-festival","tag-willem-dafoe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}