Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe in H. S. Miller’s “Anamorph.”
BIOGRAPHY [Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide]
Known for the darkly eccentric characters he often plays, Willem Dafoe is one of the screen’s more provocative and engaging actors. Strong-jawed and wiry, he has commented that his looks make him ideal for playing the boy next door — if you happen to live next door to a mausoleum.
Although his screen persona may suggest otherwise, Dafoe is the product of a fairly conventional Midwestern upbringing. The son of a surgeon and one of seven siblings, he was born on July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dafoe began acting as a teenager, and at the age of seventeen he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Growing weary of the university’s theatre department, where he found that temperament was all too often a substitute for talent, he joined Milwaukee’s experimental Theatre X troupe. After touring stateside and throughout Europe with the group, Dafoe moved to New York in 1977, where he joined the avant-garde Wooster Group.
Dafoe’s 1981 film debut was a decidedly mixed blessing, as it consisted of a minor role in Michael Cimino’s disastrous Heaven’s Gate. Ultimately, Dafoe’s screen time was cut from the film’s final release print, saving him the embarrassment of being associated with the film but also making him something of a nonentity. He went on to appear in such films as The Hunger (1983) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) before making his breakthrough in Platoon (1986). His portrayal of the insouciant, pot-smoking Sgt. Elias earned him Hollywood recognition and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
Choosing his projects based on artistic merit rather than box office potential, Dafoe subsequently appeared in a number of widely divergent films, often taking roles that enhanced his reputation as one of the American cinema’s most predictably unpredictable actors. After starring as an idealistic FBI agent in Mississippi Burning (1988), he took on one of his most memorable and controversial roles as Jesus in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Dafoe then portrayed a paralyzed, tormented Vietnam vet in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), his second collaboration with Oliver Stone. Homicidal tendencies and a mouthful of rotting teeth followed when he played an ex-marine in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990), before he got really weird and allowed Madonna to drip hot wax on his naked body in Body of Evidence (1992).
Following a turn in Wim Wenders‘ Faraway, So Close in 1993, Dafoe entered the realm of the blockbuster with his role as a mercenary in Clear and Present Danger (1994). That same year, he earned acclaim for his portrayal of T.S. Eliot in Tom and Viv, one of the few roles that didn’t paint the actor as a contemporary head case. His appearance as a mysterious, thumbless World War II intelligence agent in The English Patient (1996) followed in a similar vein. In 1998, Dafoe returned to the contemporary milieu, playing an anthropologist in Paul Auster’s Lulu on the Bridge and a member of a ragingly dysfunctional family in Paul Schrader’s powerful, highly acclaimed Affliction. He then extended his study of dysfunction as a creepy gas station attendant in David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999). After chasing a pair of killers claiming to be on a mission from God in The Boondock Saints, Dafoe astounded audiences as he transformed himself into a mirror image of one of the screens most terrifying vampires in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). A fictional recount of the mystery surrounding F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic Nosferatu, Dafoe’s remarkable transformation into the fearsome bloodsucker had film goers blood running cold with it’s overwhelming creepiness and tortured-soul humor. After turning up as a cop on the heels of a potentially homicidal yuppie in American Psycho that same year, the talented actor would appear in such low-profile releases as The Reckoning and Bullfighter (both 2001), before once again thrilling audiences in a major release. As the fearsome Green Goblin in director Sam Raimi’s long-anticipated big-screen adaptation of Spider-Man Dafoe certainly provided thrills in abundance as he soared trough the sky leaving death and destruction in his wake. His performance as a desperate millionaire turned schizophrenic supervillian proved a key component in adding a human touch to the proceedings in contrast to the dazzling action, and Dafoe next headed south of the border to team with flamboyant director Robert Rodriguez in Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
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FILMOGRAPHY: The Miso Soup (in development), The Wild Bunch (2010, in production, voice), John Carter of Mars (2012, filming), A Woman (2010, post-production), Miral (2010, post-production), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009), The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009, uncredited), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, voice), Daybreakers (2009), My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009), L’affaire Farewell (2009), Antichrist (2009), I skoni tou hronou (2008, The Dust of Time), Adam Resurrected (2008), Fireflies in the Garden (2008), Anamorph (2007), Go Go Tales (2007), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007), The Walker (2007), The Procedure (2007), The English Patient (1996), Gedo senki (2006, voice, Tales from Earthsea), Paris, je t’aime (2006, Paris, I Love You), Inside Man (2006), American Dreamz (2006), Ripley Under Ground (2005), Before It Had a Name (2005, aka The Black Widow), Manderlay (2005), xXx: State of the Union (2005), The Aviator (2004), Control (2004), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Spider-Man 2 (2004), The Clearing (2004), Camel Cricket City (2003, voice), James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2003, voice), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Finding Nemo (2003, voice), The Reckoning (2003), Auto Focus (2002), Spider-Man (2002), Edges of the Lord (2001), Pavilion of Women (2001), Bullfighter (2000), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Animal Factory (2000), American Psycho (2000),The Boondock Saints (1999), eXistenZ (1999), New Rose Hotel (1998), Lulu on the Bridge (1998), Affliction (1997), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), The Night and the Moment (1995), Victory (1995), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Tom & Viv (1994), In weiter Ferne, so nah! (1993, aka Faraway, So Close!), Body of Evidence (1993), White Sands (1992), Light Sleeper (1992), Flight of the Intruder (1991), Wild at Heart (1990), Cry-Baby (1990), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Triumph of the Spirit (1989), Mississippi Burning (1988), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Off Limits (1988), Platoon (1986), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Streets of Fire (1984), New York Nights (1984), Roadhouse 66 (1984), The Hunger (1983), The Loveless (1982), Heaven’s Gate (1980, uncredited).
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS: Academy Awards 1986: Nominated, “Best Actor in a Supporting Role”, Platoon; 2000: Nominated, “Best Actor in a Supporting Role”, Shadow of the Vampire. Saturn Awards 2001: Won, “Best Supporting Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire. Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2005: Nominated, “Best Acting Ensemble”, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (shared w/co-stars). Camerimage 2002: Won, “Special Award: For immense contribution to the art of film.” Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2001: Nominated, “Best Supporting Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire; 2003: Nominated, “Best Supporting Actor”, Auto Focus. Chlotrudis Awards 2002: Nominated, “Best Supporting Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire. Fantasporto 2001: Won, “Best Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire. Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2000: Won, “Outstanding Creative Performance”, Shadow of the Vampire. Golden Globe Awards 2001: Nominated, “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture”, Shadow of the Vampire. Independent Spirit Awards 1987: Nominated, “Best Male Lead”, Platoon; 1991: Nominated, “Best Supporting Male”, Wild at Heart; 2001: Won, “Best Supporting Male”, Shadow of the Vampire. Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2000: Won, “Best Supporting Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire. MTV Movie Awards 2003: Nominated, “Best Villain”, Spider-Man. MTV Movie Awards, Mexico 2004: Nominated, “Most Divine Miracle in a Movie”, The Last Temptation of Christ. Online Film Critics Society Awards 2001: Nominated, “Best Supporting Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire. Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 2001: Won, “Best Actor in a Supporting Role”, Shadow of the Vampire. Razzie Awards 1994: Nominated, “Worst Actor”, Body of Evidence; 1998: Nominated, “Worst Supporting Actor”, Speed 2: Cruise Control. Sant Jordi Awards 1995: Won, “Best Foreign Actor”, Light Sleeper. Satellite Awards 2001: Won, “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical”, Shadow of the Vampire. Screen Actors Guild Awards 1997: Nominated, “Outstanding Performance by a Cast”, The English Patient, (shared w/co-stars); 2001: Nominated, “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role”, Shadow of the Vampire. Sitges (Catalonian International Film Festival 2000: Won, “Best Actor”, Shadow of the Vampire. San Sebastian International Film Festival 2005: Won, Donostia Award.
Philippine National Artist, Arturo Rogerio Luz
National Artists: Arturo R. Luz [Cultural Heritage]
Arturo R. Luz, painter, sculptor and designer, received the title of National Artist in Visual Arts in 1997. Member of the Neo-Realists and the Thirteen Moderns, a group of modern artists established in 1938 and led by Victorio C. Edades, he described himself as “semi-representational, semi-abstracted.” He is best known for his linear art and his series on street musicians, vendors, cyclists and carnival performers, but also sculpted using wood, concrete and metal. His works are characterized by sophisticated simplicity and exemplify sublime austerity in their expression and form.
Luz was born in Manila on November 20, 1926. He began his lessons in painting under painter Pablo Amorsolo, brother of National Artist Fernando Amorsolo. He went to the University of Santo Tomas School of Fine Arts, then received a scholarship at the California College of Arts and Craft in Oakland for a 3-year diploma in art program. He continued his education at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York in 1950, and at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris in 1951.
He began with figurative artworks, but went on to develop abstraction. It was in Paris that he had his first one-man exhibit of drawings at the Galerie Raymond Duncan in 1951. He held his second solo exhibition at the Manila Hotel when he returned to the Philippines in the same year. In 1960, he put up the Luz Gallery, wherein many contemporary works were showcased. He had the following objectives when he founded the gallery: to display paintings that deserve to be exhibited, to give approval and recognition to genuine talent, and to develop taste with a degree of critical judgment.
Among his achievements are three first prize awards at the Art Association of the Philippines Annual Competition from the 1950’s to the 1960’s. In addition, he received several foreign scholarship grants, including those from Spain in 1953, Italy in 1963, and the United States in 1963. He also joined various exhibitions abroad, including the Philippine Cultural Exhibition held in New York in 1953, Arte de America y España in 1963, the 11th Sao Paolo Biennale in 1971, the Tokyo International Print Biennale in 1974, and the 8th British International Print Biennale in 1984. Another distinction is a one-man exhibit he held at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City in 1981.
[Images: Crucible Gallery]
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[Source: Casualty of Design]
Exit Through The Gift Shop
This film is billed as ‘the world’s first street art disaster movie’.
Banksy film to debut at Sundance [BBC]
Notorious street artist Banksy, whose work has decorated his home town of Bristol and Israel’s West Bank barrier, has turned his hand to film-making.
Exit Through The Gift Shop will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, his agent told the BBC.
It will be the first time the elusive artist, who has never revealed his identity, has spoken on camera.
Billed as “the world’s first street art disaster movie”, its inclusion in the festival has been shrouded in secrecy.
Sundance organisers are due to announce its inclusion at a press conference on Thursday.
Unexpected stunts
Exit Through The Gift Shop was left off the official programme, but speculation about the festival’s Spotlight Surprise turned to Banksy after four stencils, believed to be by the artist, appeared on walls in Park City, where the festival is held.
Banksy is known for teasing his audience, toying with authority, and continually pulling the wool over people’s eyes to stage unexpected stunts.
Last year, he installed 100 of his artworks in Bristol’s council-owned museum under the noses of top officials, and once smuggled a blow-up figure of a Guantanamo Bay detainee into Disneyland.
Exit Through The Gift Shop will have its world premiere at the festival on Sunday.
It is described as the story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on him.
Infamous artist
Banksy said: “It’s the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed”.
The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work.
But until the film is shown, it is not known whether Banksy’s identity will be revealed.
In the past, the artist has both mythologised and subverted his own image, so the film could raise as many questions as it answers.
John Cooper, director of the Sundance Festival, said the story was so bizarre that he questioned whether it could be real.
“Exit Through The Gift Shop is one of those films that comes along once in a great while, a warped hybrid of reality and self-induced fiction while at the same time a totally entertaining experience,” he added.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is due to open in UK cinemas on 5 March.
