Not that I am going to play him, but they give me clues they give me fun things to play with. I look at them, I’d see what kind of shoes he’s wearing, I’d see what his body is like how he carries himself, how he thinks of himself, how he expresses himself. What did you learn or take from that experience?ĭAFOE: Some superficial things, some less superficial. Was that on site in Florida or was that here in LA? I know that you visited with a few hotel managers prior.
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You could always bring it back by keeping the pressure on for rent, or for a watchdog on illegal movements, keeping the finger on the community and Bobby’s kind of connective tissue for that. It helped to hold things together, to create a community rather than have all of these loose little storylines. We’re working from a very strong script, but we were also improvising and creating things on the fly. Is that something you and Sean talked about that your character kind of operated as someone who could slow this world down a bit and make it feel a little more manageable?ĭAFOE: It happened kind of naturally because it's the way the events are structured. I ask because Tangerine has this kind of pulsing chaos and Florida Project has this as well, but what was interesting about your character is Bobby is the anchor to try to keep the chaos at a minimum. How familiar were you with Sean’s work prior? We of course chatted a little bit about a few of his iconic roles and what what drew him to the superhero genre again.Ĭollider: It’s a pleasure to get to speak with you today, I’ve been a fan for a long time and I loved your performance in this film particularly. Recently, I got the chance to sit down and talk with Dafoe about The Florida Project, including the unique shoot on location amongst people who were actually living and working at the hotel, and some notes on his youth.
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Along with care-taking, this includes some tough love, too. Bobby is more than a caretaker of the property he's a caretaker of these forgotten souls particularly a young mother ( Bria Vinaite) and her wild daughter ( Brooklynn Prince). It's a rundown motel but it's exterior isn't as rundown as many of the inhabitants are as they scrape together money for rent via waitressing, scamming Disneyland tourists, and hooking. In Project Dafoe plays Bobby, the motel manager of the Magic Castle. (Read Gregory Ellwood's rave review from its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, here and Adam Chitwood's TIFF tea leave readings, here). In fact, Dafoe could very much be toward the front of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar pack this year for his performance in Florida. And Dafoe is the heart of the film, something he's not frequently been used for as of late, but something that the Spider-Man actor is insanely good at. Sean Baker's follow-up to Tangerine-concerning a cheap motel near Disneyworld and the families who live there, scraping by week to week-is many a vibrant thing. Still, it's somewhat surprising to see the chameleon have a full-on good guy role like he does in The Florida Project.
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Willem Dafoe doesn't want you to describe his characters as "creepy." It's understandable, because he's one of the most accomplished actors in the business.