Willem Dafoe is a senior actor with an iconic face and acting in many famous films, such as Spider-Man films. With more than 100 films that he starred in, Willem Dafoe is truly a living legend in Hollywood. A four-time Academy Award or Oscar nominee, Dafoe has starred in all genres from light romantic comedies to controversial horror films to heavy-duty dramas. All of his films are sure to be a huge success.

Do you want to know more about Willem Dafoe whose face is often made into memes? Here are 10 interesting facts that you may not have known about the legendary actor Willem Dafoe.

1. Did His Stunts in Spider-Man With No Stand-in

Willem Dafoe first appeared as Peter Parker's nemesis named the Green Goblin in the 2002 Spider-Man. Dafoe tried hard to immerse himself in the role of the Green Goblin. He specifically asked the film crew to let him do his own stunts to create a more authentic appearance.

The actor learned how to use the Goblin Glider in just 15 minutes. Dafoe didn't let the Green Goblin's elaborate metallic costume stop him from doing some wild stunts for his scenes.

With the exception of CGI moments, about 95% of Green Goblin's actions are done by Dafoe himself. There was only one minor accident where Dafoe slipped. In the final fight between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man, Dafoe accidentally injures Tobey Maguire's chin.

2. He Stopped Eating Lobsters After Feeling Like the Lobster is “Speaking” to Him

Willem Dafoe loves vegan food for the sake of maintaining his health. According to a 2017 GQ article, the actor has been eating a lot of vegan food to date. But Dafoe is not strict with his diet program. Apparently, he still likes to eat fish sandwiches from time to time. So it might be wrong to call it 100% vegan.

Although he could never give up his penchant for eating fish sandwiches, there is one seafood that the actor refuses: lobster. After shooting a scene for The Lighthouse in 2019, Dafoe vowed never to eat it again.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2020, Dafoe explained his disclosures in more detail. Dafoe claims that while filming in Nova Scotia he felt as if a lobster was “talking” to him. "So one day, I stopped eating lobster, while shooting that movie," Dafoe said.

3. Him and Robert Pattinson Almost Never Speaks When Filming The Lighthouse

Despite being in the film, oddly enough Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson barely spoke to each other while filming The Lighthouse in 2019. The filming was so physically demanding that both men were too tired to socialize after the  filming ended.

And there was little time for small talk on set. During the production of the film, Pattinson stayed at a hotel in Nova Scotia with the rest of the film crew. Dafoe stayed the night separately, living in a small fisherman's hut in complete silence, leaving little time for the two actors to hang out.

It wasn't until after the production of the film was finished, when they started their press conference, that they chatted for a while and Dafoe just became intimately acquainted with Pattinson. The two immediately hit it off as friends once they finally had a chance to get to know each other after the filming was over.

4. Nominated for Golden Raspberry Award

The Golden Raspberry Awards (or Razzie Awards) are film awards that demean great actors by rewarding them for their worst performance. Sylvester Stallone and Madonna have won the most Razzie Awards, but Dafoe also has plenty of nominations.

In 1994, Dafoe was nominated for Worst Actor for his role in the film Body of Evidence. He lost to Burt Reynolds, who won for his performance in Cop and a Half.

In 1997, Dafoe was nominated again for Worst Supporting Actor for the film Speed ​​2: Cruise Control. The film was criticized by critics and audiences alike, even today it has a disgraceful 3% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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5. The Only Actor Nominated for Oscar for Vampire Role

Despite the abundance of vampire roles in other films, Willem Dafoe's performance as Max Schreck was the first vampire role to receive an Oscar nomination. In 2000, he starred as Schreck in E. Elias Merhinge's horror film Shadow of the Vampire.

Schreck, a real-life actor, is best known for playing the vampire Count Orlok in the 1922 film Nosferatu. This film retells Schreck's life if he were a real vampire. Dafoe has one of his trademarks, the iconic death scene in Shadow of the Vampire.

In the film, Schreck is eventually killed when the film crew in Shadow of the Vampire floods his room with sunlight, causing him to be destroyed. Unfortunately Dafoe lost that year to Benicio del Toro, who won for his performance as Javier Rodriguez in Traffic.

6. Almost Played Joker in 1989 Batman

Willem Dafoe was desperate to play the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. Screenwriter Sam Hamm suggested him for the Joker role after seeing the physical similarities between the Joker and Dafoe. However, that suggestion was never acted upon, and the Joker role ended up falling into the hands of Jack Nicholson.

Dafoe was even considered for the main role in the film based on the DC comics. There is still the possibility that Dafoe will one day play the notorious Joker. Ever since Robert Pattinson and Dafoe appeared together in The Lighthouse in 2019, fans have been dying to see them together again in another film.

With Pattinson being cast as the Bruce Wayne in The Batman, fans have commented that Dafoe should play the role of Joker. No producers have confirmed anything about this yet, but there may always be hope for a seasoned actor like Dafoe.

7. He Spend a Month in Military Camp for Platoon

In an Esquire interview in 2012, Dafoe revealed that before filming of Platoon began, the main characters were taken into the wilderness for 30 days by Vietnam war veterans including Captain Dale Dye. “[We] had no contact with the outside world, they taught us all things soldiering,” recalls Dafoe.

Captain Dye reportedly limited the food and water rations the actors received, and fired empty bullets to wake the actors up whenever they tried to sleep quietly. Dafoe joins co-stars Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, and Forest Whitaker in a grueling military drill. Despite the difficult conditions, Dafoe enjoyed it and felt grateful to have had the experience.

8. He Got Sick After Drinking Dirty Water While Filming Platoon

Platoon is a Vietnam War film that takes Willem Dafoe to a rainforest area of ​​the Philippines, where he becomes seriously ill after drinking dirty water from a river. Actors were warned not to drink water from rivers, as this would put them at risk of contracting malaria or cholera.

Still, Dafoe thought the water looked pretty clean, so he filled his tumbler, put a purification tablet in the water and drank it.

As the actors move upstream, they find a dead pig rotting in the middle of the river. Dafoe must have been heartbroken when he realized what he had done. Dafoe then had to take a break from filming because delirium occurred to him. He was sick for 24 hours.

However, the brief illness did not seem to affect Dafoe's overall performance, as he later received an Oscar nomination for the film.

9. His Parents Cuts His Financial Support After Dropping Out of College to Pursue Acting

Willem Dafoe is one of eight children born to parents who work in the medical field. His father is a doctor, while his mother is a nurse. Although Dafoe's seven siblings are following in their parents' footsteps in the medical field, Dafoe has other plans.

Willem's parents were not very happy with his decision to drop out of the University of Wisconsin, and refused to support him as he pursued an acting career. Dafoe worked in the lunch cafeteria before he succeeded in becoming the actor he is today.

10. He Pretended to be Fluent in Dutch to Land His First Acting Gig

An audition for the 1980 film Heaven's Gate asked the actors to prepare one monologue in English and one monologue in another language. To land a role in the film, Willem Dafoe asked a friend to write down a Dutch speech phonetically, which Dafoe then memorized.

He was soon caught cheating when at his audition director Michael Cimino asked Dafoe to improvise a few sentences in Dutch. Dafoe explained that he wasn't actually fluent in Dutch, but amazingly, he was still able to get the role.

Those are the 10 facts about Willem Dafoe, the iconic Green Goblin actor in Spider-Man. Do you think there are other Willem Dafoe facts that have not been discussed here? You can share them in the comment section.

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