Although Willem Dafoe has actively attempted to diversify his roles for the past four decades, his most recognizable parts are almost always villains. From To Live and Die In L.A., Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Shadow of the Vampire, and Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Dafoe is one of Hollywood’s most reliable bad guys. This week, Dafoe has another villainous turn in the Netflix original film, Death Note (read our review here). The movie, which is now streaming on Netflix, is based upon the wildly popular manga series, and Dafoe provides the voice for Ryuk, the otherworldly Shinigami who sets the events of the story in motion.
IGN recently spoke with Dafoe by phone as he shared his thoughts on Ryuk’s motivations, the creation of his voice, and his collaboration with Death Note director Adam Wingard.
Additionally, Dafoe briefly spoke about his character in Aquaman, as well as his upcoming movies, The Florida Project, Murder on the Orient Express, and What Happened To Monday. “Shall we begin?”
IGN: What attracted you to Death Note?
Willem Dafoe: The story. They showed me what Ryuk looked like, and I thought "yeah, I can voice this. This is interesting."
IGN: How did you come up with the voice you used for Ryuk?
Willem Dafoe: You know, just trial and error. When I "see" the voice, I see his teeth. I try to imagine what he looks like. I get in a room with Adam, I lay something out there. He tells me to repeat it, I give him variations. It's trial and error. That's one thing about doing voice, it's quite manipulated and fragmented. So, it is a call and response. And then, once you get in the groove, once you establish the kind of tone and the kind of feeling, then you run with that. But it takes some working to find a range by approaching it from many different angles.
IGN: Did you get a chance to check out the source material before you committed to the film?
Willem Dafoe: Not so much. I didn't feel the need. Sometimes you feel like you have to do research to make something, other times you know you don't feel it so much. I felt it was purer if I just responded to the story, the images, and what Adam told me he envisioned. It's not a rejection of preexisting material. It's just we like to keep true to your impulses. I kind of let the integrity of the source rest with Adam.
IGN: What was it about Ryuk that you found so appealing?
Willem Dafoe: Just where he's situated. He's got all of this power, but he's bored. He needs to have some fun. So he lays this book in the open in order to feel alive and be amused. That's really what he does most of the time. It reminds me a little bit of the dilemma that the undead have. They're given immortality in some form, or like a vampire. They're given something that we all want, but once they have it, they aren't satisfied and they want something more. So, Ryuk really needs the humans to amuse him and he uses this convention of the Death Note to have fun. Not only to see the violence, but also to see how the humans deal with the power that he gives them. He's half-mentor, he's half-tormentor.
IGN: When you performed your lines, did you do it on the set or entirely in the voiceover sessions?
Willem Dafoe: I was always in a studio. It was really quite abstract, but concrete because I always had Adam there. You play a game, you know? I lay it out there, he lets me go for a little while, then I try to give him some variations. And he says "go back to this," or "I want more breaths here." You deal with it musically and you deal with it psychologically because you can work out a great pace. You just lay out a bunch of stuff and then he kind of guides it to a sweet place. And then once you find that place, you try to get in that groove and stay in it.
IGN: Do you have a particular favorite line from the movie?
Willem Dafoe: No, not particularly. But I think kind of a signature thing would be "shall we begin?"
IGN: That works. Now, we're in largely uncharted territory in terms of Netflix making big budget films. But if they do make a sequel to Death Note, would you reprise your role?
Willem Dafoe: It's like anything. If the script was good, the director was good, yes. But I liked the character and if this [film] finds a good reception, I can. Clearly the story is not completed. It was like a pale version of the original, because I can see where this story could keep on going in many different directions.
IGN: Are you able to answer any Justice League questions today?
Willem Dafoe: Justice League, not so much. But I can talk a little bit about Aquaman.
IGN: Let's do that then. Tell us about your portrayal of Vulko in the DC live-action films.
Willem Dafoe: Now that I say it, I don't want to say too much because it's far off. I mean I can [say] we're shooting [Aquaman] now and James Wan is fantastic. I don't know what to tell you because I don't want to create any spoilers. I've been on a little break after shooting for a couple of months off. And now, tonight I go back to Australia to shoot for about another month. But all goes well...I don't know what to say! Until people actually start seeing footage, I don't want to spoil anything. Sorry.
IGN: Okay. I'll just ask you about your costume. Does Vulko's outfit resemble the costume worn by Jason Momoa? Or does Vulko have his own look?
Willem Dafoe: Well, Vulko is 100% Atlantean. So that's different, because [Aquaman] is half Atlantean and half human. So they're quite different and I'm capable of being outside of the water, but mostly it's underwater. And I'm a guy that's been around for a while. I have a kind of... let's call it an armor. It's a good look, I like it a lot. But again, I don't want to give too much away. The day that they show the shot of the character will accomplish more than I can by talking about it now. I like the look very much, and know they released a toy recently. But it doesn't look so much what I look like [in the film].
IGN: What can you tell us about some of your other projects coming up?
Willem Dafoe: There is a project that I'm very excited about called The Florida Project; that comes out in October. That's from Sean Baker, who made the film Tangerine that was famously shot on an iPhone and got a lot of critical praise. It got a really good response. The Florida Project is about people that are living in an extended stay cheap motel in the shadow of Disneyland. I play the manager of the motel, and we really see that world through the eyes of some kids. And it's a beautiful movie. It played in Cannes and got a lot of attention and a lot of interest. I'm just eager for Americans to see it because it really expresses a world that is very specific and people are not aware of. It's also a very beautiful [part] for me because it's a very complex role. It's about a normal guy that is the manager of this motel, but he has his relationships with the different people that live there. He wears a lot of hats. He's everything from a father figure, to a policeman, to a protector. It's very interesting, so I'm excited about that.
Then there's Murder on the Orient Express, which is the remake of the Agatha Christie classic. It's directed by Kenneth Branagh, and that has a fantastic cast. I can tell it will be a really fun movie. That opens in November.
I have something else on Netflix called Whatever Happened To Monday, which stars Noomi Rapace, It's set in a dystopian world where you can only have one child and I'm the father of a woman that gives birth to seven identical daughters. The daughter died in childbirth and I have to go underground and I raised them. And we live clandestinely, and they can only exit our little house as one person at a time. One day she doesn't return, so that creates a crisis and then it kind of morphs into a fantastic action movie. I think some people say it has elements of Orphan Black or something that I don't know, because of the multiple characters that Noomi Rapace plays. But the action is quite fantastic. We shot it in Romania and the look is pretty unique.
Death Note is now streaming on Netflix.
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