LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Willem Dafoe has said that, for him, the process of making a movie the finished product.
But after more than 130 film credits, the 67-year-old actor has finally found a project whose final form is on par with the experience of creating it.
鈥淲hen I watch this movie, I say, 鈥極kay, I feel like I鈥檓 there again,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淎lthough there鈥檚 lots of stuff that we had invented that gets cut out, it feels like the making of it.鈥�
That assertion is impressive, given how much 鈥淚nside,鈥� Vasilis Katsoupis鈥� fiction directorial debut, asked of its lead and virtually only actor.
鈥淚t really required a lot of different states and different approaches, I would say. But it was great fun,鈥� Dafoe recalled.
Set entirely inside a single apartment and with no foils for Dafoe鈥檚 character to rely on, 鈥淚nside鈥� is completely dependent on his performance, which is so compelling you forget he is the only person on screen for the better part of 100 minutes.
It follows an art thief named Nemo (Dafoe) who gets trapped inside a collector's apartment during a botched heist. Nemo is pushed to his limits, braving extreme temperatures, flooding and limited access to food and water, all within the confines of a luxury Manhattan apartment.
Despite the physical and psychological toll that Nemo suffers throughout the film, Dafoe said he was able to distance himself from his character鈥檚 tribulations.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to some maybe dramatic places or some difficult places, but you鈥檙e also enjoying the interplay with the other people,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got the camera, you鈥檝e got the film language behind you, so you鈥檙e playing with these things.鈥�
More than just a psychological thriller, 鈥淚nside鈥� considers the ways in which art rescues humans in modern society from an isolated existence 鈥� a way out from being trapped inside of ourselves. Through his meditations on William Blake鈥檚 鈥淭he Marriage of Heaven and Hell,鈥� Nemo discerns that liberation can only be attained through creation.
For Dafoe, the philosophical exploration of the human relationship to art was not as apparent in the script, but 鈥渞eally came out in the doing of it,鈥� the actor recalled, reflecting on the ways he found beauty in making art pieces for the film.
鈥淭hat was so enjoyable. You lose yourself in those things. You don鈥檛 necessarily know what they鈥檙e for, but they feel so useful and so healthy and so necessary,鈥� he said.
Despite his prolific career, Dafoe said 鈥淚nside鈥� allowed the to flaunt chops he rarely gets to display.
鈥淭here are certain things that are purely physical, and you don鈥檛 always get to do these scenes with no dialogue,鈥� he said. 鈥淢editative sections that you鈥檙e really by yourself and there鈥檚 nothing to accomplish.鈥�
And while the specifics of the plot of 鈥淚nside,鈥� which wrapped filming in June 2021, may not ostensibly feel universal, almost everyone on this side of the coronavirus pandemic will relate to the film鈥檚 scant human interactions, vague conception of time and claustrophobic cinematography.
鈥淚nside鈥� hits theaters March 17.
Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press
