#Willem dafoe wild at heart full

Dafoe takes full command of the screen and turns in an intense and thoughtful performance. His Jesus questions and struggles against his fate, even hallucinating a secular life with Mary Magdelene before bowing to the inevitable. Unflinching in his portrayal, Dafoe humanizes the son of God in a departure from traditional approaches to playing the divine. Adapted for the screen by Paul Schrader (the first of his many collaborations with Dafoe), Dafoe plays Jesus in the last few days before his crucifixion and resurrection. Martin Scorsese’s religious epic, The Last Temptation of Christ, now hailed as a masterpiece, was extremely controversial at the time of its release. Full of contradictions, Rick Masters is one of the Dafoe’s most fascinating and defining characters. underworld who strangely prides himself on being a fair businessman. He plays Masters as a cold, cunning and ruthless operator in the seedy L.A.

#Willem dafoe wild at heart movie

While the movie is best known for its dynamic car chase sequences, Friedkin’s underrated classic (set to the music of Wang Chung) would not work without the lingering presence of Dafoe’s character.

In William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in LA, Dafoe plays Rick Masters, an artist who moonlights as a career counterfeiter and becomes the target of Richard Chance, an unhinged and relentless LA cop. You better try and shit 40 grand because I ain’t leaving without it. Clad in intimidating rubber overalls (like you’ve never seen before or since), Dafoe nimbly acquits himself in a battle with Cody that includes the clashing of sledgehammers! Ellen’s ex-boyfriend, Tom Cody soon comes to the rescue and eventually faces off with Raven in an epic fight scene. Dafoe plays Raven Shaddock, the vicious leader of The Bombers, a gang responsible for snatching singing sensation Ellen Aim during a performance and taking her back to their lair. The film is another 80s/50s fusion (complete with old fashioned Studebakers and neon lights) loosely based on the abduction of Helen of Troy in the Iliad. Walter Hill’s cult classic, Streets of Fire, provided Dafoe with the first of his many villainous roles. Oozing a dangerous sexuality, Dafoe channels the air of a bad boy greaser-aimless, adrift and violent-against the backdrop of complacent middle America.įinally, someone who likes to play as rough as I do. A throw back to the great 50s motorcycle movies, this film has Dafoe playing Vance, the restless, rebellious leader of a motorcycle gang who gets mixed up with the wrong girl at the wrong time in the wrong small town. I’ve got an itch between my legs and an afternoon for a heart.ĭafoe got his first leading role at the age of 26 in Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery’s The Loveless. Now well into his 50s, Dafoe shows no signs of slowing down. These early roles gave Dafoe the opportunity to work with auteurs like Kathryn Bigelow, Walter Hill and William Friedkin and no doubt prepared him for his long and varied career. Elias in Oliver Stone’s Platoon (which we’ve purposefully left off this list) back in 1987 caused Hollywood to take notice, but lesser known roles before and after that career milestone are equally impressive. Arguably one of contemporary cinema’s great treasures, Willem Dafoe has been an on-screen force from the early days of his career.