Larry Gross recalls the filmmakers were optimistic prior to release: We all knew in our hearts that Michael was disappointing. The point is that we had in mind one sentence inspired by George Lucas: "in a galaxy long ago", a futuristic past. [33] As with The Last Temptation of Christ, the film was the subject of controversy, this time among African-American activists who criticized its fictionalization of events. Starring Michael Pare, Diane Lane, Amy Madigan, Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton and Deborah Van. They can antagonize you and say whatever theywant, and you can't do anything to stop themHe's this weird looking little guy who couldn't get laid in a whore house with a fistful of fifties. [5] An additional district, Ardmore, also appears in the film, but it may be a separate municipality as it is not prefaced with "the". [78] IGN's Richard George commented that Green Goblin's armor, particularly the helmet, was "almost comically bad Not only is it not frightening, it prohibits expression". And we started giggling, in that way people do when things are terriblethere's the song in the movie called 'Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young'. So I went to Jimmy Iovine and I said all that to his, yeah it's true, I know. The Bombers, a biker gang from another part of town called the Battery, led by Raven Shaddock, crash the concert and kidnap Ellen. [75] Dafoe's role in the film was generally well-received, including a New York Daily News reviewer who felt he put "the scare in archvillain" and Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian who deemed him "strong support". [23], "I was shattered when the film didn't perform", said Gross. At the same time, I was myself knocked out by what Walter and (cinematographer) Andy Laszlo and our editor were doing visually on the film. "[11], Roger Ebert wrote that "the language is strange, too: It's tough, but not with 1984 toughness. [74], Dafoe played the supervillain the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire as the titular Marvel Comics superhero. I've always wondered why Walter has never wanted to work with me again. [5], "We were very excited about Diane Lane because she was starring in two excitedly hyped Francis Ford Coppola pictures that were being done in Oklahoma", says Gross. We went further with that, perhaps, than we should have. Gross recalls that about five weeks into the 14-week shoot: I turned to Walter and said "This movie is somewhat weirder than we thoughtWe just didn't anticipate what the combination of elements was going to be. Hill was reluctant to cast her because he felt that she was too young for the role. Diane Lane was, I think, eighteen. The Hollywood Reporter thought that Dafoe appeared to think he was "in a pantomime",[101] while a New York Times reviewer felt he was "amusing" in the role. He would imitate me. [107] Dafoe starred with Ryan Reynolds, Julia Roberts, and Emily Watson in the drama Fireflies in the Garden, which premiered at Berlinale in 2008 but was not released theatrically until 2011. [195], Dafoe is a pescetarian, citing his belief that "animal farms are one of the main causes of the destruction of the planet". [3] The studio claimed that they replaced Springsteen's song because it was a "downer". [4], Gross says Hill did not want the film to be especially violent there would be no blood and no one would die. His performance drew raves from film critics. Willem was born William James Dafoe on July 22, 1955, in Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, to William Alfred Dafoe, doctor, and his wife Muriel Isabel. The star of the film, Tom Holland, said that he got scared after bumping into Dafoe by accident one day on set and only then found out about his role in the film. The first to be released, White Sands, saw Dafoe a play small-town sheriff who impersonates a dead man after finding his dead body and a suitcase containing $500,000 to solve the case, resulting in an FBI investigation. [19], The Blasters, who turned down the chance to appear in Hill's 48 Hours, appear in the film performing two songs. The structural advantage of the old studio system we didn't have. "[9] His brother, Donald, is a surgeon and research scientist. In high school, he acquired the nickname Willem,[11] the Dutch version of the name William. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. I already had a great respect for people like Minnelli. [191][192][193] They separated in 2004 and were never married, with Dafoe later explaining that "marriage represented ownership" to her. [5], According to Gross, Hill wanted to make a film about the hero of the comic book, but since he did not like "any of the comic books" he had read he wanted it to be an original character. With Tenor, maker of GIF Keyboard, add popular Willem Dafoe Streets Of Fire animated GIFs to your conversations. I'm just not that handy with that. Like the novel, the film sparked controversy for departing from the biblical portrayal of Jesus and was branded as being blasphemous. Um, there were a couple of things in the narrative that I felt went out that probably should have stayed in. Tom then goes to a local tavern, the Blackhawk, where he meets a tomboyish mechanic and ex-soldier named McCoy and lets her stay with him and Reva. He played a tormented T.S. And there were a few other things that contributed to that direction. INTERVIEW: Michael Par talks with TV STORE ONLINE about the cult classic STREETS OF FIRE", "Mr. Beaks Talks THE LINCOLN LAWYER, EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS and STREETS OF FIRE With Michael Par! [69] Shadow of the Vampire, his final film of the year, saw him portray a fictionalized version of the German actor Max Schreck during the production of the 1922 horror film Nosferatu, in which Schreck starred as the vampire Count Orlok. "[25] Principal photography for the film took place in the Philippines and required Dafoe to undergo boot camp training. [12] He then apprenticed under Richard Schechner, the director of the avant-garde theater troupe The Performance Group, where he met and became romantically involved with director Elizabeth LeCompte. Nishitani said that, at the time, the team were not "aware of Streets of Fire, but I've Googled it and there does indeed seem to be something familiar about it" but that "this style of story was very popular back then" and many "fighting games made use of it" so "I guess we were part of that crowd! The group, along with the Sorels, ditch the bus and take a train back to the Richmond. He's like John Ford. [3], According to cinematographer Andrew Laszlo, the film's style was dictated by the story. So Walter said were going to make a high school movie that's also going to be a comic book and also going to be a musical. Raven confronts Tom and warns him that he will be coming for Ellen and for him, too. [39] In the same year, Dafoe co-starred in David Lynch's crime film Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. The story took place in Chicago, so they built Chicago in LA.[19]. Box office figures for Walter Hill films in France, "Tonight is What Means To Be Young: "Streets of Fire" at 30", "How Did This Get Made: A Conversation with 'Streets of Fire' Co-Writer Larry Gross", "Tom Cody, Pleased To Meet Ya! The subway scenes were filmed on location in Chicago at many locations, including LaSalle Street (Blue line), Lake Street (Green line), Sheridan Road (Red, Purple lines), and Belmont Avenue (Red, Brown, and Purple lines). [42] Dafoe had two lead roles in 1992. The title of the former was used as the tagline on some promotional materials for the film. However, when they realised they would not get it in time, they asked Steinman for a song, which he wrote in two days. "post 4 screen shots of your comfort movie Streets of Fire (1984) Avec Willem Dafoe jeune qui porte une salopette en cuir (oui)" The film was positively received by critics and Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times wrote that "Dafoe steals the picture with his comic timing". [3] The Richmond's look was very soft and the colors did not call attention to themselves. Music had been important in my films, it was usually post production. Streets of Fire was a big picture for me, and I was overwhelmed. [99] He starred with Juliette Binoche in a short film directed by Nobuhiro Suwa as part of the 2006 anthology film Paris, je t'aime. [8] He recalled in 2009, "My five sisters raised me because my father was a surgeon, my mother was a nurse and they worked together, so I didn't see either of them much. In the cult film The Boondock Saints (1999), he portrayed a detective tracking down two renegade killers who believe their actions to be righteous. And I was like, "Ohthis is not going to go well." After studying at 'Appleton East High School,' he enrolled at the 'University of Wisconsin' in Milwaukee to study drama when he was 17. [36][37] Dafoe reunited with Platoon director Oliver Stone for a small appearance in the biographical war drama Born on the Fourth of July (1989). I said, where'd you hear that? He also portrayed Nuidis Vulko in the DC Extended Universe films including Aquaman (2018), and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023). [36] While the film was negatively received, Dafoe's performance was lauded by some critics; Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt he gave a "disciplined performance" and Janet Maslin thought he was "harrowingly good". It sounds like the way really mean guys would have talked in the late 1950s, only with a few words different--as if this world evolved a slightly different language."[28]. "Willem and I have been quite friendly since Streets of Fire ," Hill told Forbes. And Walter isn't the kind of guy who works well with kids. Dafoe co-starred in the film as the father of Bryce Dallas Howard's character, a woman who discovers a plantation still thriving as if slavery had never been abolished. [191] They have since worked together on her films Before It Had a Name and A Woman. He was surprised with her "total commitment to selling herself as a rock 'n' roll star". He made his film debut in Heaven's Gate (1980), but was fired during production and was uncredited despite one of his scenes making it into the final cut of the film. We sat down, I remember, in a little park. [103] In the same year, Dafoe voiced the main villain, an evil wizard, in the English dub of the Japanese animated fantasy film Tales from Earthsea,[104] had a supporting role as a US Senator in the drama The Walker, his fourth collaboration with Paul Schrader,[105] and took on the lead role in the psychological thriller Anamorph, in which Dafoe played a detective who notices the case he is investigating bears similarities to a previous case of his. THE LIGHTHOUSE isn't the first time Dafoe has donned fisherman's wear. A young, white guy who would ride a motorcycle and have a carbine over his shoulder and be a mainstream icon. [14], E.G. Conceptually. That whole scene was a Walter thing. [116] During an interview with L Magazine, it was revealed Dafoe had a stand in for scenes where his character's penis was on screen as his own was too big. I guess maybe I am. [164] Dafoe earned his third Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination, as well as nominations at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and BAFTA Awards. Two songs written by Jim Steinman were part of the soundtrack: "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" and "Nowhere Fast", both performed by Fire Inc., with Holly Sherwood providing lead vocals on the former and Laurie Sargent on the latter. [147] Dafoe worked with Wes Anderson for a third time with the comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel (also 2014), featuring as the henchman of Adrien Brody's character alongside an ensemble cast led by Ralph Fiennes. This tarp measured 1,240 feet long by 220 feet wide over both sets, and cost $1.2 million to construct. He gained prominence for his role in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), in which he played a counterfeiter attempting to elude capture by the police. Dafoe co-starred as a man who kidnaps his former boss (played by Robert Redford) in exchange for a ransom. Gross and Hill met with the editors on the weekends and looked at footage. Rick Moranis, Diane Lane, and Willem Dafoe in the opening scene to 1984's Streets of Fire. This is Hollywood. [67], In his first film of the 2000s, Dafoe was featured in a supporting role in American Psycho (2000) as a private investigator investigating the disappearance of a co-worker of Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale), an investment banker who leads a double life as a serial killer. We look back at the cult classic '80s rock and roll fable, Streets of Fire. The film follows a pair of United States Navy pilots, played by Dafoe and Johnson, who scheme and participate in an unauthorized air strike on Hanoi. [20], Walter Hill had worked with Ry Cooder several times previously but Cooder did not do the original score. It's kind of amazing how intimidating Willem Dafoe can look with just the silhouette of his face. I did it in two days. "[4], The film went on to make a total of $8 million in North America, compared to a production budget of $14.5 million. Dafoe flourished as an actor in such big-budget mainstream films as Spider-Man (2002) and three of its sequels (2004, 2007, and 2021), in which he played the comic villain the Green Goblin; the animated Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel, Finding Dory (2016), for which he provided the voice of a fish; and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Wes Andersons comedy about an idiosyncratic marine documentary crew. I think he was too much of gentlemen to tell me that I was too needy at the time. Dafoes credits from 2019 included The Lighthouse, about two lighthouse keepers in the 1890s; Motherless Brooklyn, a crime drama adapted from the novel by Jonathan Lethem; and Togo, a Disney drama about the Great Race of Mercy, in which dog-sled teams were used to distribute medicine during a diphtheria epidemic in Alaska in 1925. [19] In 1982, Dafoe starred as the leader of an outlaw motorcycle club in the drama The Loveless, his first role as a leading man. Streets of Fire (1984) 28: Bobby Hicks : The Florida Project (2017) 62: Hateful Guard at Maryland Training School for Boys : Cry-Baby (1990) 34: [120] Dafoe had a voice role in Wes Anderson's stop-motion animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox starring George Clooney as the titular Roald Dahl character. Comedians are a special breed. Always dark. Dafoe, the son of a surgeon and a nurse, was one of seven children. And I remember, in the park, Joel saying, 'Today Is What It Means to be Dead'. Gross says they wanted Daryl Hannah but were unable to do a deal in time. Throughout the 1990s Dafoe continued to appear in roles that allowed him to explore moral ambiguity in characters. After having sex, Tom and Ellen discuss the possibility of eloping. The version of "Never Be You" that was featured on the soundtrack album was performed by Maria McKee. Tom goes to the hotel where Ellen and Billy are staying to collect his reward, but he takes only McCoy's cut and throws the rest back at Billy. Upon his return, Tom defeats a small gang of greasers and takes their car. [112], Dafoe appeared in seven films in 2009, the first of which was in Lars von Trier's experimental film Antichrist. Teenage reality. [47] Later in 1993, Dafoe appeared in a supporting role as Emit Flesti (an anagram of Time Itself) in the German fantasy film Faraway, So Close!, directed by Wim Wenders. [11], When it came to casting the movie, Hill wanted to go with a young group of relative unknowns. . Nowhe neglected to mention that some fairy tales are very violent. [137] The film was a box office failure and ranks among the biggest box-office bombs of all time. [94], With the avant-garde drama Manderlay in 2005, Dafoe began another actor-director collaboration, this time with Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. The film delves into fiction when, over the course of Nosferatu's production, the cast and crew come to discover that Schreck is actually a vampire himself. However, by this stage Gross and Hill had worked together so closely Gross says "I began to develop a strong sense for knowing how to sound like he did. The film was a box office bomb, grossing $8 million against a production budget of $14.5 million. Reply . Dafoe played the caretaker of a house that is inherited by the lover of its deceased owner, engaging in a sexual relationship with her. "People think that he doesn't like women and he knows that's not true. In a 2007 interview, Retro Gamer magazine asked the game's designer Akira Nishitani about the similarities. "[4], Production began on location in Chicago in April 1983, then moved to Los Angeles for 45 days, and finally two weeks at a soap factory in Wilmington, California, with additional filming taking place at Universal Studios. Gross says he and Hill were also influenced by the teen films of John Hughes. There's gotta be a next project, and they're sitting there and there's so many lessons I learned during that movie. He studied theatre at the University of Wisconsin but left school to join Theater X, an experimental Wisconsin-based theatre troupe with which Dafoe toured for four years. Dafoes other credits that year included Guillermo del Toros film noir Nightmare Alley and The Card Counter, a crime drama directed by Paul Schrader. The Lantern's Brett Price wrote that Dafoe was "on another level" in No Way Home and not having his mask made him even more intimidating than he was in the 2002 film. It was a movie that was built to succeed. Dafoe was critically lauded for his performances in a number of controversial films released in the late 1980s. AKA: Streets of Fire (eng), Streets of Fire 1984 (eng) Movie Rating:6.7 / 10 (22407) [ Tonight is what it means to be young. ] It was an enormous Hollywood production. I said, yeah, it's a really bad script Joel's on the other side going, what am I gonna do next? I always thought of it as a musical. The Ardmore Police roadblock was filmed near 6th street in East Los Angeles, near the flood basin. I think he thought that I was a needy guy. [98] Dafoe co-starred as the White House Chief of Staff in American Dreamz, a comedy satirizing both popular entertainment and American politics. Writers aren't always that good at communicating in person. Dafoe played a paraplegic, wheelchair-using Vietnam veteran who befriends the film's subject Ron Kovic (played by Tom Cruise), another paraplegic veteran. In a way, I think Streets of Fire was about expanding The Warriors concept to a bigger stage. Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. McCoy enters and is led upstairs by one of the Bombers, where she then knocks him out and holds Raven and some of his gang members at gunpoint. [5] The factory scenes that take place in the Battery were filmed at a rotting soap factory in Wilmington, California, for ten nights. He used to frequent gun clubs and he wasn't a very delicate guyWe were doing a love scene. [190] The psychological horror film Inside had its world premiere at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, and was released in the United States in March by Focus Features. Tom escapes on the one intact motorcycle and meets up with the others. And Walter has it in his head to create a franchise about himintroducing him as The Stranger. The English Patient was filmed in Tuscany, where Dafoe said he particularly enjoyed the "quiet moments in the monastery between shoots". There he met the actress and director Elizabeth LeCompte, who founded the deconstructionist theatre company the Wooster Group, with which Dafoe later performed. The film received mostly negative reviews, although the performances were generally praised. I was told by Joel Silver that the sequel was going to be set in the snow, and the following film would be set in the desert. [59] Also in 1997, Dafoe took on a voice acting role in an episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons titled "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", voicing the commandant of a military academy that Bart and Lisa Simpson are attending. The website's consensus reads: "Streets of Fire may sometimes buckle under the strain of its ambitious fusion of disparate genres, but Walter Hill's bravura style gives this motorcycle musical fuel to burn. [5] However, the song was sung for the film by Winston Ford, whose vocals were lip-synched by Jackson in the movie. What happened was that all of the people that made Streets of Fire left Universal Studios and went to 20th Century Fox. Walter knew what he meantthat we were in a great position hereso he said, "We can do this two ways: present an idea now and get a deal done, or write a script on spec and get a lot more money." [21] Dafoe starred alongside Judge Reinhold in Roadhouse 66 (1985) as a pair of yuppies who become stranded in a town on U.S. Route 66. [63], In 1999, Dafoe gave a supporting performance in David Cronenberg's Existenz, a science fiction thriller in which he played a gas station owner named Gas. [5] All 10 days of filming in Chicago were exteriors at night, on locations that included platforms of elevated subway lines and the depths of Lower Wacker Drive. Streets of Fire is a 1984 American neo-noir rock musical film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. Weirdos."[16]. Hookers with a heart of gold. Because I wanted to be on that stage singing with those guysBut back then I always played those quirky characters. William James "Willem" Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Raven Shaddock is the main antagonist in the 1984 action-drama film Streets of Fire. The role required Dafoe to wear an uncomfortable costume and mask that made it impossible to emote using his face, confining Dafoe to convey emotion through his voice and head movements. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. But the minute the momentum slows, it's another storya story about a movie with no story at all. Actor Age Check - How old was Willem Dafoe in Streets of Fire? Or punch them. In the drama Pavilion of Women, he played an American priest living in China who falls in love with a local married woman (played by the film's screenwriter Luo Yan) while giving her son a Western education. stunt double Willem Dafoe (uncredited) / stunts (uncredited) Allan Graf . The Boondock Saints was negatively received by film critics, largely for its extreme violence and lack of emotional depth, though some critics praised Dafoe's role in the film. Following tensions between Schechner and other members after they started staging their own productions outside of the group, Schechner left and the remaining members (including LeCompte and her ex-boyfriend Spalding Gray) renamed themselves The Wooster Group. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him No. The fact that they made a deal with real gangs to be extras in the film. In the movie, the song is performed on stage at the end of the film by 'The Sorels', a fictional doo-wop-style group consisting of actors Stoney Jackson, Grand L. Bush, Mykelti Williamson, and Robert Townsend. [3] Originally, plans were made for the song to be featured on the film's soundtrack, to be sung by Ellen Aim at the end of the film, but when Springsteen was told that the song would be re-recorded by other vocalists, he withdrew permission for the song to be used. "[4], Gross and Hill would work out their ideas in detail. [27] At the 59th Academy Awards, Dafoe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but the statuette was awarded to Michael Caine (for the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters). "Were in the world of Cocteau, were in the world of Beauty and the Beast. [179][180][181], Dafoe reprised his role as Green Goblin from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home, released on December 17, 2021. [14], You gotta realize that, out of the whole cast, nobody was over thirty. ancientdad Additional comment actions. [165][166] In 2017, Dafoe also played and voiced the character of Ryuk, a demonic death god from Japanese mythology, in Netflix's Death Note, and adaptation of the Japanese supernatural-thriller manga of the same name. Menu. Eliot coping with his wifes emotional disintegration in Tom and Viv (1994) and appeared in The English Patient (1996), an adaptation of the novel by Michael Ondaatje. He asks me if I'm interested in writing the script with himI ask him is the Pope Catholic? As Tom storms out, Ellen follows and the two embrace in the rain. [117] Dafoe next had a small role in the French thriller Farewell as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and co-starred opposite Michael Shannon in Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?, in which he played a detective attempting to figure out why a troubled man killed his own mother. [12] He later took the new interpretation as part of his stage name because he had become more used to it than his birth name. To the point where I thought it was going to do well. [111] In his final release of 2008, Dafoe starred in the Greek drama The Dust of Time as an American film director of Greek descent making a film his mother's (played by Irne Jacob) life. You just frame them, give them circumstances, and that character will happen. Dafoe, the son of a surgeon and a nurse, was one of seven children. Elias Grodin in Oliver Stones Platoon (1986), which earned Dafoe his first Academy Award nomination. "[25], Gary Arnold wrote in The Washington Post that as "romantic leads, Par and Lane are pretty much a washout", and that "most of the action climaxes are treated as such throwaways that you begin to wonder if they bored the director. Hill was unhappy with that score and liked music Cooder had written for Stroker Ace which the director of that film had not wanted to use.[21]. The film received mixed reviews, although Peter Travers felt that he added a note of "vulnerability to the menace he has made his stock in trade". It was kind of real but it wasn't really. They did so the following afternoon at a small ceremony with two friends as witnesses. [126][127] and starred in his wife Giada Colagrande's film A Woman. Director Walter Hill Writers Walter Hill Larry Gross Stars Michael Par Diane Lane Rick Moranis See production, box office & company info Watch on Prime Video rent/buy from $3.99 More watch options Add to Watchlist He studied theatre at the University of Wisconsin but left school to join Theater X, an experimental Wisconsin-based theatre troupe with which Dafoe toured for four years. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. "[4], Amy Madigan originally read for Reva, Cody's sister, and told Hill and Silver that she wanted to play the role of McCoy which, she remembers, "was written to be played by an overweight male who was a good soldier and really needed a job. Tom bids farewell to Ellen, promising that hell always be there for her if she needs him. I can't put everything together about what didn't work, but the most damaging thing is that we didn't have the right actor for Tom Cody. It's not New York. [83] The murder mystery The Reckoning was Dafoe's final film of 2003, in which he starred with Paul Bettany. He's also a tough son-of-a-bitch. I think that's going to be demonstrated even more clearly in his next films. Dafoe played the villainous Raven in Hill's Streets of Fire all the way back in 1984. All projects pushed their release dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[175][176]. ", Dafoe on his avoidance of being typecast as a villain, 1998[52], In his first of three film appearances in 1996, Dafoe made a cameo appearance as an electrician in the biographical drama Basquiat. [72], Dafoe took on two leading roles in 2001, both of which were as priests. [43] In his next starring role, Paul Schrader's drama Light Sleeper, Dafoe played John LeTour, a lonely, insomniac, New Yorker working as a delivery man for a drug supplier, who is played by Susan Sarandon. [172] In the same year, he played a lighthouse keeper on a storm-swept island in Robert Eggers' psychological horror The Lighthouse opposite Robert Pattinson. [10] His surname, Dafoe, is the English version of the Swiss surname Thvou. [40] Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman felt the role proved Dafoe as a "master of leering, fish-faced villainy". We learned later that, I believe, Eisner rejected it on the grounds that it was too similar to Indiana Jones.
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