Interview: Willem Dafoe talks The Hunter

Willem Dafoe is in the middle of a busy spring – and we’ve been with him through all of it! Last month we caught up with the actor in Arizona where he was chatting up JOHN CARTER; a few weeks later, I sat down with him to pick his brain about how the world ends in 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH. Now that he’s survived that, it’s time to talk hunting.

Dafoe’s latest film is Daniel Nettheim’s THE HUNTER, a strong, quiet movie about a methodical hunter on the trail of the legendary (and possibly nonexistent) Tasmanian Tiger. Dafoe’s eponymous character is a man of many mysteries, one who we might not understand very well if an actor of Dafoe’s stature and presence weren’t playing him. It’s frankly an understatement to say that the impression he makes on screen is doubled in person.

“It explores themes of loneliness and isolation and loss… But compassion trumps it all.”