Why does Willem Dafoe like to play characters who die?

If you’ve ever seen Willem Dafoe in a movie, you’ve probably watched him die. He’s been stabbed, shot, blown up, crucified, burned alive, and in one memorable case, impaled by his goblin-themed glider. (In another memorable scene, he was buried alive and then killed with an axe.) “Movie name: I’m Dead!” Dafoe once joked. When asked to explain his strange habit of dying, he quipped, “They always want to kill me!”

Dafoe certainly has a special talent for death. His death in a hail of bullets in the movie Platoon created a stunning image that became the movie’s poster. But while his mastery of death scenes may tempt directors to cast him as characters who die dramatically, Dafoe himself has also admitted that he is drawn to such roles.

In a recent interview with Empire MagazineDafoe was asked about Robert Eggers’ 2022 film “The Northman,” in which he plays a clown who is killed (off-screen) early on but continues to serve as a spiritual guide to the protagonist in his new existence as a headless and mummified figure. head. Dafoe described his character’s afterlife as “beautiful” and admitted that it was “part of the lure” of the film:

“I mean I knew there was going to be this little head and… you know, it’s nice to have a good entrance and a good exit.”

Death certainly makes for a poignant and dramatic farewell, whether it’s from a movie or a particularly boring party. But there is more to Dafoe’s love of fictional deaths than a desire to go out in style.

Movies are a way for audiences to experience the thrill of adventure, the horror of horror, and the sadness of tragedy without putting their lives in danger. For actors, they have a similar appeal. When asked why he likes playing characters who die so often, Dafoe told Empire that “it raises the stakes.” He added:

“Everyone, unless they’re asleep, has a fantasy about their death. So when you’re in a little fairy tale, you have to play out this kind of fantasy of imagining a version of what could happen to you, so even in these extreme cases something in that experience is heightened, “It’s abnormal and very specific and personal, but it’s not you, because the circumstances are not from your life.”

While no living person knows what it’s like to die (at least, not permanently), the fear of death is ingrained in us, and it is inevitable. An easily accessible emotion for actors like Dafoe to tap into. Death itself is inevitable, and Dafoe sees death scenes in films as a kind of training for the real thing and a way to confront the fear of mortality. “Staging (one’s death), even without any real danger or any real reality, is a beautiful exercise,” he explained. “I’m sure there are some rituals in different cultures somewhere where this is done to help people prepare for their death.”

Alex Godfrey, who conducted the interview for Empire, later cited a 1987 interview in which Dafoe said: “Performance is like a life that I live angrily until it ends.” When asked if he still feels that way, the actor replied: “Sometimes I do that (…) I’m a different person now, but it feels good. I don’t mind being labeled that.”