Quotes from Willem Dafoe

Film is fragmented and gets into lots of other people's hands. There are a lot of pleasures that theatre gives me. You get to perform uninterrupted.

I don't have a preference between theatre and film; I like to do both. But I will say that there's something about theatre that is more nourishing and sustaining than film ever can be.

I don't think people are interested in my personal life. I've never had a Hollywood life. I've always been a worker.

A lot of critics are lazy. They don't want to look closely and analyze something for what it is. They take a quick first impression and then rush to compare it to something they've seen before.

Weirdness is not my game. I'm just a square boy from Wisconsin.

I wish to Christ I could make up a really great lie. Sometimes, after an interview, I say to myself, 'Man, you were so honest - can't you have some fun? Can't you do some really down and dirty lying?' But the puritan in me thinks that if I tell a lie, I'll be punished.

One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had and the different things I've learned.

I try to do as many of my own stunts as possible. If you keep on taking yourself out of the role you play, you lose the thread of the character.

All the time, as an actor, you want to be asking what's next and where things are going. If you're not asking those questions, you're not growing.

I'm a task-oriented actor. A pretender. And I try to invent my process anew each time I make a new project. So I frown on any method.

The director's very important to me, particularly when the director has a recognizable style.

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.

It's too easy to trivialize people. The Internet does it all the time.

The worst thing is to get involved with people who aren't passionate about what they're doing.

The English Patient' is about the coming together of a French-Canadian nurse, an English patient, a Sikh in a turban and me, Caravaggio, and each of us is seeking a resolution to our own problems.

In order to inhabit a character, you've got to embrace and empathise with them.

Truth is, generally I like film festivals; somewhere at some level there's an exchange of ideas.

I think back story can help guide your choices, but when you're playing a scene, you're not making choices; you're just intuitive.

I love Sam Neill. The thing that I always say about him, and I think it's true, is he's so dry. When he's serious, I think he's joking; when he's joking, I think he's serious.

I love theaters. I love the event of going there and seeing a movie with a lot of people. I like the community coming around the story.

I love doing action and stuff; the problem is usually action movies are not that interesting. Also as I get older I feel like there's less opportunities for me.

You have to lose yourself to find yourself.

I'm no different to anyone else; I want people to like me. I just don't particularly want them to understand me.

I don't worry so much about the audience. I want them very much to be involved and enjoy the movie, but I try to just inhabit the character in a full way, where I can create a personal stake.