Willem Dafoe shares origin of his unique name, talks new thriller

[Music] the New York Times called Willem Dafoe one of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century he's also a four-time Academy Award nominee now Willem is starring in a new movie called inside he plays an art Thief trapped in a New York City Penthouse after a heist he's involved in does not go as planned take a look okay you got seven minutes stay focused the art in here is worth millions proceed to step two what's happening it won't open sorry man you're on your own you know I was just saying t

o you in commercial break not since Tom Hanks and Castaway have we seen a film or maybe we have but I haven't seen a film where one actor carries the entire thing which is what you do in this yes did that feel daunting um not really I mean uh that was part of the pleasure there's very little dialogue um my partners are basically objects the paintings the place but what it feels like you're working very closely with the crew because you are the only actor and the nature of what we were doing also

is there was a very strong script there's a very strong narrative but between those narrative points we had to invent a lot of things so I worked very closely with you know art Department props all that probably closer than I usually do so it actually felt very social like I I was just okay in front of the camera I'm alone and pretending but it was very collaborative yeah you've done stage work did you treat it almost like a play in some ways just one set up and you had a room ah yes I mean tha

t's always in you know acting as acting I didn't think of it so much that because also we're figuring out shots right and we're doing things that we're trying to figure out how to shoot it or not shoot it or we're shooting it and may or may not be used so it's a slightly different responsibility yeah no you're locked in this apartment yeah for a while we don't know how long yeah we don't know how long but I'm not coming out it's coming out it seems like a very long time if we got locked into you

r home or apartment what could we find in there any rigatoni sure sure but the trick is you know the uh the gas is turned off uh stuff is put away he's got to find stuff to eat he's got to find water it's a little bit of a survivalist story very different than Castaway for example but there are similarities and then there's a whole other aspect where he's interacting with the art and it's interesting because what is a Priceless thing and worth something to him in one context two seconds later is

worth nothing because really what he needs is something to eat right right so there's questions about our relationship to Art our relationship to luxury our what we really need so it's cool because there's a very strong narrative and people May respond to that kind of Thriller aspect of it uh but you know there's other things that arise that are invoked in the story it's a very very cool movie people are going to like it if they haven't seen it um I have to ask you about I did not know this I'm

a William I didn't realize you two were a William or R William and William was the mispronunciation somewhere along it was a nickname I think I was always actively seeking a nickname when I was a kid how old were you when somebody it wasn't until it took me a while it was like college or high school and a friend just said call you William yeah yeah you know a flamboyant guy yeah oh William and I kind of liked it yeah stack somehow it's great I come from big family Billy didn't suit me Williams

still formal yeah but the Iran about Willie now what about Willie since you you know Willie is you have a problem when you go to England yeah okay yeah all right I always get a look because it means something very specific over there I know what it is yes very specific yeah but I like I like really really maze you know exactly Willie's a cool name did you ever think about going by it or no no I I stumbled on Willem and then the irony is I never I don't like the idea of a stage name you know yeah

but then when it came time to put my name professionally forward to do William or Bill seemed right strange because it wasn't me so this is memorable you also just we have to say really quickly you spoke at the University of Wisconsin where you're from you're one of eight yes you did not graduate from high school I did not you did not bring that no it's okay I think Willem is doing just fives and you got this um obviously award but you also got to speak you said something I loved about enthusia

sm oh okay and attitude do you remember I don't but you said it's not what you do it's okay I'll quote you sometimes it's not what you do that's important but it's the attitude that you do things with it who cares that sounds fine he's like I'll take your word for it that I said that so that was nice because I I didn't graduate from there but uh they gave me a honorary Doctrine and they I spoke at the commencement and it's a big university so it was a big a big event so it was kind of cool as an

event I it was fun to do well Hoda loves commencements and yours was very well written so thank you thank you Willem great inside from our sister company Focus Features is in theaters March 17th thanks William good to see you [Music] thank you [Music]