{"id":134360,"date":"2024-06-28T10:54:59","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T09:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/?guid=b0d72a5a92eb4475872fe8d3189d09ad"},"modified":"2024-06-28T10:54:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T09:54:59","slug":"willem-dafoe-and-hong-chau-the-meaning-comes-in-the-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/28\/willem-dafoe-and-hong-chau-the-meaning-comes-in-the-doing\/","title":{"rendered":"Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau: \u2018The meaning comes in the doing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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O<\/span>ne is a veteran of the screen who\u2019s been acting for over 40 years, the other\u2019s career began to blossom after a starring role in Alexander Payne\u2019s 2017 dramedy, Downsizing<\/a> \u2013 Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau meet on-screen in Kinds of Kindness<\/a>. For Dafoe it was a reunion having worked with Yorgos Lanthimos on Poor Things<\/a> and playing the bubble-belching God, but for Chau, it was a call that came after her whirlwind year promoting Darren Aronofsky\u2019s The Whale<\/a>, which culminated in an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. They play various roles across each of the film\u2019s shorts, but it is in the third and final segment, R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich, in which they play a pair of uber chill, free-loving cult leaders named Omi and Aka.<\/p>\n

LWLies: Do either of you have any personal interpretations of what this film is about? <\/strong><\/p>\n

WD: I\u2019m a battered actor. We talked a lot about not interpreting. You know, there\u2019s no interpretation. I don\u2019t have the ability to express interpretation because it slides around as I\u2019m watching it. I\u2019m watching these people, and certain things occur to me, because many things happen that are very evocative, you know. And the two times I\u2019ve seen it, it\u2019s presented different things to me. So I can\u2019t. I can\u2019t. I could make something up, but it wouldn\u2019t be true.<\/p>\n

All of his films are kind of like that, in a way. <\/strong><\/p>\n

WD: But this is even harder to express in those terms, because of the nature of themes that are threaded through it. But each movie is very distinct. Which movie are you talking about? Which character? Which situation? It\u2019s like a kaleidoscope. There are too many colours.<\/p>\n

HC: Yeah, I like to turn my brain off when I enter a movie theatre and let whatever happens on screen affect me. And I think that\u2019s kind of the approach I took to working on this movie. I didn\u2019t really spend too much time analysing the script or trying to connect any sort of dots. I think there wasn\u2019t a lot there in terms of specific descriptions of things. Sometimes there\u2019s a lot of that in scripts. And so the things that we saw on-screen, we found them through testing them out.<\/p>\n

WD: Yes, trial and error. It was just nice to get to watch something and work on something and not know exactly what it was before we started.<\/p>\n

HC: Ultimately, I think it\u2019s a gift to be in that headspace of, \u2018What is this?\u2019 And the question of, \u2018What is it?\u2019 comes out of a certain kind of pleasure and curiosity. Because when you have that kind of curiosity, that opens the door to a kind of freedom of thinking and imagination. And Yorgos\u2019 films do that at least to me. And I appreciate it.<\/p>\n

As actors you read a lot of scripts. Is it common for you to sign on to a project and not necessarily have a clear sense of what the film is about? <\/strong><\/p>\n

HC: I think this is the first time where I felt, \u2018Oh, I really don\u2019t have anything in my pocket already to contribute in terms of a concrete idea of this is, how she should look and how she behaves.\u2019 But I haven\u2019t done as many movies as Willem. Is this unusual?<\/p>\n

WD: I often don\u2019t know. You\u2019re attracted to certain things when you read a script. You\u2019re aware of the things to do and things that are presented. So it\u2019s not like, \u2018I don\u2019t know what this is at all.\u2019 Themes and possibilities always spring to mind. But that\u2019s just to guide you, whether you want to try to figure out what it is. But the meaning comes in the doing. Sometimes I do a movie, and the movie is beautiful, but I don\u2019t know who the character is because I was him. If I performed well and if I was honest and I was graceful in my approach, I don\u2019t know, because that\u2019s not my job.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really interesting because there are some actors who say they know exactly who their character is from start to finish. I find it so fascinating that there are so many ways of getting there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

HC: Sometimes, and certainly sometimes you use models and sometimes you even copy. And to copy is a good place to start creatively, strangely enough, because you can\u2019t really copy. You can start to mimic and then in your limitations and the particular flavour of the mimic, it leads you somewhere else. I find that very useful actually sometimes that you take a model. But that model is just a diving board.<\/p>\n

I was interested to hear from you about Yorgos\u2019 method of building in rehearsal time and making sure everyone has the space to play around. How does this impact your own creative process?<\/p>\n

HC: I mean it changes everything. I think earlier on, I used to really white-knuckle things where if I had a big scene or a monologue, I\u2019d just keep my engine warm the entire day until I get to that point and it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh my god,\u2019 if that scene comes up after lunch, forget about it. I am a goner. And I had to let that go \u2013 the idea of a perfect take \u2013 which really helped me to just be a happier actor. Because it\u2019s kind of miserable the other way that I was approaching it. So to get a place to play and just having everybody come together and do just a fun, silly rehearsal period before we started the film was really nice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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WD: He has a rehearsal period before and that makes the company and we goof off, we humiliate each other. It\u2019s like boot camp. We don\u2019t so much deal with the text or the interpreting of the text. And for this one, it was quite brief, actually. We had a longer one for Poor Things. But as far as space when we\u2019re actually doing it, there\u2019s not a lot of rehearsal or anything. It\u2019s a very relaxed and very supportive environment. So you feel free and easy. Because naturally there\u2019s not a great pressure on you to convey a particular point of view. The thing that you\u2019re supposed to do, as is my understanding, is to be engaged. Have a relationship with what you\u2019re doing. Be alive in what you\u2019re doing. Not be asleep. That\u2019s all. And when the world is so well built and the things that you have to do are so specific and so constructed, you don\u2019t have to gild the lily. You\u2019ve got to be there for it and it is what it is. But Yorgos is very good with actors and gives good practical instruction.<\/p>\n

I always find it quite comical how his films tend to put his characters through the ringer, yet he\u2019s so thoughtful and gentle when you meet him. <\/strong><\/p>\n

WD: He\u2019s so sweet. He\u2019s so sweet and so lovely and just a very calm, very warm presence. Well he\u2019s like that. And also when you fail at something, he\u2019s like, \u2018Well, that was not good.\u2019 And you don\u2019t feel the sting. Because he says, \u2018Let\u2019s do it again,\u2019 or, \u2018What if we do this?\u2019 He\u2019s helpful. He\u2019s very good with actors. I mean he acted himself. He knows the theatre; he knows music. He\u2019s a very well-rounded artist.<\/p>\n

In the third act, you play a pair of cult leaders. How did you work together in creating those roles? <\/strong><\/p>\n

HC: Something is prepared but it\u2019s prepared in costume selection, prepared in getting to know each other, hanging out on the set. We had all these extras around us. The location is very specific. We aren\u2019t a machine when we\u2019re shooting. We don\u2019t shoot conventional coverage, or there aren\u2019t a million takes or anything. It\u2019s quite relaxed and well-planned. So you get time to hang out. I remember us hanging around that pool, just being totally chill, being able to formulate those decisions.<\/p>\n

WD: They aren\u2019t even decisions. You create an association, and so it\u2019s easy to imagine that we\u2019re a couple. But you can\u2019t force those things. They come up, you know, like groundwater.<\/p>\n

How did the experience of working on Kinds of Kindness differ from Poor Things, if it did differ at all? <\/strong><\/p>\n

WD: The man is the same, the movies are different, that\u2019s all. It\u2019s the same guy and his approach is the same. It\u2019s being expressed through a different kind of filter, like painting with other colours.<\/p>\n

And for you Hong, coming into this established group with Willem and Emma and Joe and Margaret \u2013 how did that feel to kind of be brought into the little family that Yorgos is creating? <\/strong><\/p>\n

HC: I guess because I knew that he was friends with Kelly Reichardt for some reason, like, that made it feel like, “Oh, okay, we\u2019re all on the same wavelength.” Even though I had not actually worked with him or any of the other actors before, it felt like, “You know a friend of mine, so we\u2019re going to get along.” That was my attitude going into it. And actually, a lot of our crew was Kelly\u2019s crew.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau: ‘The meaning comes in the doing’<\/a> appeared first on Little White Lies<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau lay out the particulars of Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019s method with actors.<\/p>\n

The post Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau: \u2018The meaning comes in the doing\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Little White Lies<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[6166],"tags":[61,122,127,129,124,128,125,132,131,133,126,130,123,66,94,88,97,56,64,65,60,112,6188,6181,40,75,95,6191,6189,104,6196,6206,6183,6186,33,120,6185,105,101,6199,6190,6193,6202,6195,6204,98,115,30,29,41,86,70,69,68,72,71,26,118,108,87,46,55,48,52,54,51,50,83,6197,62,58,57,6177,109,6201,35,59,63,85,79,82,96,80,27,81,114,44,42,43,45,38,39,6205,6198,6187,6200,6192,6194,6203,110,117,6184,100,111,116,73,89,90,92,91,6180,93,84,78,37,6182,102,34,36,77,67,74,99,113,119,28,121,6179,6178,32,47,49,53,103,31,76],"class_list":["post-134360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie","tag-airpods","tag-anime","tag-anime-characters","tag-anime-cosplay","tag-anime-edits","tag-anime-merchandise","tag-anime-movies","tag-anime-news","tag-anime-recommendations","tag-anime-reviews","tag-anime-series","tag-anime-streaming","tag-animes","tag-app-store","tag-app-store-samsung","tag-appgallery","tag-appgallery-oneplus","tag-apple","tag-apple-music","tag-apple-tv","tag-apple-watch","tag-bbc-sport","tag-behind-the-scenes-footage","tag-best-comedy-movies","tag-best-mobile-games","tag-bixby","tag-bixby-xiaomi","tag-box-office-hits","tag-celebrity-interviews","tag-champions-league","tag-cinema-history-and-evolution","tag-cinematic-virtual-reality-experiences","tag-classic-romance-movies","tag-critically-acclaimed-dramas","tag-cyberpunk","tag-cyberpunk-2077","tag-family-friendly-movies","tag-fantasy-football","tag-fifa","tag-film-director-profiles","tag-film-festival-highlights","tag-film-industry-news","tag-film-production-techniques","tag-film-soundtracks-and-scores","tag-film-inspired-travel-destinations","tag-football","tag-formula-1","tag-fortnite","tag-free-fire","tag-free-mobile-games","tag-freebuds-pro","tag-galaxy-a52","tag-galaxy-note-20","tag-galaxy-s21","tag-galaxy-watch-4","tag-galaxy-z-fold-3","tag-game","tag-games","tag-golf","tag-harmonyos","tag-how-to-backup-iphone","tag-how-to-factory-reset-iphone","tag-how-to-reset-iphone","tag-how-to-restore-iphone","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone-5","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone-6","tag-huawei","tag-in-depth-film-analysis","tag-ios","tag-ipad","tag-iphone","tag-latest-movie-releases","tag-live-soccer","tag-local-cinema-listings-and-showtimes","tag-lol","tag-macbook","tag-macos","tag-mate-40-pro","tag-mi-11-lite","tag-mi-home-security-camera-basic-1080p","tag-mi-home-security-camera-basic-1080p-huawei","tag-mi-smart-band-6","tag-minecraft","tag-miui","tag-mlb-scores","tag-mobile-game-design","tag-mobile-game-development","tag-mobile-game-marketing","tag-mobile-game-monetization","tag-mobile-games","tag-mobile-gaming","tag-movie-adaptations-of-books","tag-movie-merchandise-and-collectibles","tag-movie-reviews-and-ratings","tag-movie-ticket-discounts-and-offers","tag-movie-trailers-and-teasers","tag-movie-trivia-and-facts","tag-movie-themed-quizzes-and-games","tag-nba-scores","tag-nba-standings","tag-newest-horror-films","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-scores","tag-nhl-scores","tag-one-ui","tag-oneplus","tag-oneplus-9-pro","tag-oneplus-buds-pro","tag-oneplus-nord-ce-5g","tag-oscar-nominated-films","tag-oxygenos","tag-p40-pro-plus","tag-poco-x3-pro","tag-pokemon","tag-popular-action-films","tag-premier-league","tag-pubg","tag-pubg-mobile","tag-redmi-note-10-pro","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-pay","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-steam","tag-steeam","tag-top-10-anime","tag-top-rated-movies-2023","tag-upcoming-hollywood-movies","tag-valorant","tag-when-do-the-iphone-7-come-out","tag-when-does-the-iphone-7-come-out","tag-when-is-the-iphone-7-coming-out","tag-world-cup","tag-xbox-series-x","tag-xiaomi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/573"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134360\/revisio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