‘What took you so long?’ - Willem Dafoe on finally getting to work with Tim Burton

tell me this I mentioned I'm a big fan it seemed to me a perfect fit that you would be in a Tim Burton movie it's like William defo and Tim Burton kind of go together so that's nice had you spent a long time going I hope Tim calls me at some stage I'd love to be in one of his a little bit I mean when I see him I tease him now that we've done something together it's like what took you so long and um yeah no because I've always liked his stuff and I don't it's not for me to say whether I'm right for it it's just I like his sense of humor I like his aesthetic um he you know he almost created a a genre by himself I mean and he's a he's an artist you know he Tim Burton movie is a Tim Burton movie I mean he's a author you know and I'm attracted to those guys sure those guys and gals because uh when you get there uh you kind of inhabit their Vision it takes you it takes it away from you and uh kind of frees you up yeah and you can have a good time and not not just serve you know the stuff you know but learn stuff talking of having a good time you know you play this ghostly character who was a b actor and takes the acting process very seriously and there might be rightly that you're a very committed actor who takes things very serious I felt at times you were in a very fun way kind of winking at the of course of course it's a kind of a gag you know we're taking ah we're we're making fun of actors we're making fun of masculinity people in power you know all that stuff and a certain kind of narcissistic uh uh pretentious guy that doesn't realize how pretentious he is yeah yeah and that's that's fun to do and it's a good exercise for us all absolutely you're known as a very committed actor and I'm sure you agree with that but and I wonder when you're committing to you know I don't know playing Jesus Christ or playing a character in a Beetle Juice movie is it the same commitment more or less I mean you know every project has its different you know you have to identify what your what the space is for you to contribute to and of course it's not the same because to play Jesus Christ you're you're it's hung on you you're driving you know it's hung on you that's a heavy lift in Beetlejuice I'm part of an ensemble it's a different style and and it's not to say it's not to make a judgment about what's heavy and what's light or what's profound or what isn't you always just have to find out what you're doing a group of people are coming together and make something and you got to figure out your part your contribution how you uh melt into the the world yeah so in a way of course they're very different but in the but at the same time your job is the same and that is to be there for what's going on yeah and and contribute uh to make yourself available to find something out to make something there is a picture someone put on Twitter yesterday that that Social Media stuff but the only reason I bring it up is they said doesn't William defo look like Samuel Becket in this picture and you did I have people suggested that to you before I'm still iring it up slightly people haven't but I was I was the other day I I was growing something for something that uh fell through you know so the other day happily I I was growing a beard for a movie that I thought I was going to do and then it's not happening or it's shifting so I was shaving the other day and I got a haircut and my hair was kind of sticking up and I'm a little thin right now so I looked and I said ah 10 years I could do a biop picka backet so it's not outrageous yeah wow fascinating okay I'm glad you're seeing it as well you have a while to go though don't get me wrong 10 years pretty craggy no come come tell me this I mentioned I want to stay on beacon juice but I just I remember the hoopla in Dublin in 1988 When the Last Temptation yeah came out and it wasn't banned in Ireland people think it was because you're this crazy C country and it wasn't actually which was quite a forward thinking for Ireland at the time but I I Vivid memories of that time like you do this movie scors you go off and do a movie and then maybe it's finished and 6 months later you're in this world of chaos where you know the Vatican and everyone's involved was that a stressful time in your life or is it just you park you did a movie no no no I no that movie was very important to me and I I I was distressed because you know the controversy really blocked its distribution I mean it it it it limited its distribution and that was an important movie for me and I thought it was also ridiculous in this you know in a world of slashing movies and porn and all this stuff uh that this is a movie by spirituality it may not be you may not like how the story played with but it was I think you know the political uh controversy happened clearly you know people didn't even see it they just didn't like the idea that you mess with the story it's that simple and the Curious Thing was everybody yes in a lot of Latin American countries there were problems but it wasn't just the Catholic Church like for in America it was the religious right that found an opportunity to use this as a poster child to kind of uh round the troops up you know yeah and then it flipped into an anti-semitic thing it was very complicated anti- Hollywood thing so it was painful but at the same time you know people think actors are a bunch of and they'll do whatever so they don't hold me responsible they held Martin scors responsible but I will say in the controversy uh down the line there was one occasion where I was casting something and the studio basically uh told the director he couldn't use me because they didn't like the idea that uh uh you know they thought it might affect the movie's uh release to have this actor from Last Temptation in the movie so it did affect me but not greatly I mean I I I've you certainly have and you're in a great movie now which will be much less controversial beacon juice beacon juice lovely to meet you great okay cool