Friday, April 19, 2002

WILLEM DAFOE: THE FOE OF SPIDER-MAN

By Rob Allstetter/The Comics Continuum

CULVER CITY, Calif. - If a comic-book movie is only as good as its villain, Spider-Man figures to be pretty good.

Willem Dafoe has already created quite a buzz for his performance as Norman Osborn, and his maniacal alter ego, the Green Goblin, in Spider-Man, which opens May 3.

In the film, Dafoe plays an aggressive scientist/businessman who is the father of Peter Parker's best friend. Under pressure to keep his company Oscorp thriving, Norman performs an experiment on himself that leaves him super strong but insane. He becomes the Green Goblin and seeks revenge, but quickly the issue becomes personal with Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

"The Green Goblin, as we all know, is a schizophrenic character, and it takes a helluva actor to be able to be Norman, the father, who befriends Peter," says Marvel Studios' Avi Arad, as executive producer of Spider-Man. "He sees someone in Peter who is closer to him than his own son. And then this man becomes an insane villain, and these kind of scenes are very tough to pull off. And Willem has the chops to pull it off."

Dafoe, 46, has nearly 50 movies to his credit and was twice nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor: for 1987's Platoon and 2000's Shadow of the Vampire.

"We needed someone who could be a father figure to Peter Parker. It was important that Peter and Norman create a particular relationship in the film," says Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, "so that when the Goblin finds out that Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker -- the kid that he has taken under his wing, a kid he loved even at the expense of denying affection to his own son -- that there would be a terrible price to pay. That is an extremely difficult task, and Willem Dafoe continually amazed us with his talent, his ideas, his versatility and his generosity to the other actors."

"Willem's a great actor, and he was able to pull off both parts incredibly well," says producer Ian Bryce. "In the movie, there are times when he needs to portray both characters in the same scene -- quite a challenge for any actor -- and he succeeded brilliantly."

Dafoe was shooting a film in Spain when he was sent the Spider-Man script.

"I really enjoyed the script, and I thought Sam Raimi was a great choice to direct it," Dafoe says. "I called Sam up and, over the course of two hours, he told me the story as he saw it. He spoke about the story in such intricate psychological terms, I was surprised and very intrigued."

While Dafoe was also drawn in by the dynamics of playing the dual character, he said it was rooted in Norman.

"I think of my role in this movie as Norman Osborn first and then the Green Goblin grows out of an aspect of Norman Osborn," Dafoe says. "And Norman Osborn is an interesting character because he's got a dark side and a light, positive side. He believes in science. He's interested in developing the mental and physical capabilities of a human being through science. And there's a dark side and a light side - and the Green Goblin is a manifestation of that dark side.

"The Goblin's motivations raise some interesting questions," notes Dafoe. "In his speeches, the Goblin's reasoning is sometimes frighteningly persuasive, such as in his speeches about elitism. The philosophical and political motivations of both characters were of great interest to me."

Dafoes says that Raimi's ability to put Spider-Man into psychological terms intrigued him.

"I always liked how he talked about the relationship with Norman and his son and Norman and Peter, in particular," Dafoe says. "It's very rich."

The relationship between Norman and his son Harry, an important element of the film, is turbulent.

"It's the classic story of a son trying to win the affection of his father, rebelling at times to get attention when it wasn't gained through good acts," says James Franco, who plays Harry.

"It's a very interesting triangle among Norman Osborn, his son Harry, and Peter Parker," Dafoe says. "There are all of these shifts of identification and loyalty and love, which you see in life, that are played out among these characters."

Franco says he was a huge fan of Dafoe's long before he joined the cast to portray Norman Osborn's son:

"I absolutely love his work," Franco says. "I've admired him for years and years, for his amazing performances in films like Mississippi Burning and The Last Temptation of Christ. Willem has a wonderful spirit and he's extremely giving."

Dafoe says that another aspect of the Green Goblin's appeal for him was the physicality of the character

"I come from the theater and I still work in the theater and sometime what I miss in film is a real, tangible, physical investment in things," he says. "And in this, I have lots of things to play with."

No kidding. The Goblin Glider houses an arsenal of machine guns, pumpkin bombs and mini-sidewinder missiles. It is also equipped with tridents that detach from the Glider for combat in close quarters.

Dafoe, a longtime yoga practitioner, trained extensively for the role. He spent hours with stunt coordinator Jeff Habberstad and glider technicians, rehearsing on the Glider.

"The trick is to look graceful… and not to fall off the thing!" Dafoe says. "It was a little scary because my feet were clamped into these braces attached to the glider. It was all about balance."

Dafoe became so adept at balancing atop the always-moving craft that he sometimes outshone some of the stuntmen.

"Willem is just unbelievable to work with," Habberstad says. "He gets on the glider and he puts a character into it that's just really unique, and amazing to watch."

The Goblin's suit varies from that of the comics more so than Spider-Man's. The filmmakers were able to make its look story-driven, with Oscorp's and Osborn's imprints.

Long before Osborn splits into two personalities and adopts the Goblin persona, his eventual transformation is foreshadowed by a collection on display in his home.

"In Osborn's house, you see that he has an extensive collection of warrior masks from all different countries and cultures on display in his living room," says producer Laura Ziskin. "This visual reference helped us to clarify Norman's motivation in using a mask as part of his Goblin persona. It had its antecedents in the warrior spirit reflected in his art collection."

For the creation of the Green Goblin costume, designer James Acheson was inspired by several elements, including Japanese art prints, reptilian patterns, comic books and spacesuits.

"We've created something which is part armor, part flying suit, part reptilian. We even derived a bit of inspiration from the sculptural aspects of watch straps," says Acheson, who also designed the Spider-Man suit. "We also kept in mind the idea that Norman Osborn is involved in cutting edge technology in armament development at Oscorp, so the suit reflects that as well."

Acheson says the suit is made of many, many pieces. It would take three people and usually more than half an hour to get Dafoe into the costume.

"There are about 65 sculpted pieces on the Goblin costume, which is made of pearlescent green vinyl, and approximately 1,000 separate cut pieces on the costume, which is luminescent, because the vinyl has been coated with a pearlescent paint," Acheson says.

Acheson worked with the effects house Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. on the Goblin costume as well as the mask, which is made of vacuumform plastic and fiberglass, chromium-plated and then painted, with lenses by Oakley.

As you would expect, the Green Goblin is destined for defeat. A Spider-Man sequel is already planned to begin production early next year, and although it appears doubtful you'll see Norman again, as fans of the comic know, the Osborns -- Norman and his son - both have long legacies as the Green Goblin.

"Yes, I've only heard rumors," Franco says of Harry becoming a villain. "So, yes there are rumors."

And as for Dafoe's return? "You never know," he says.