Willem Dafoe on Playing a Poet in ‘Late Fame’ and Working With Robert Eggers and Yorgos Lanthimos: ‘If I Give Myself to a Director, I Want It to Burn Hot’

Willem Dafoe is in the midst of a massive year — and he’s playing a character whose life is small by design. Dafoe is hardly chasing notoriety, but Saxberger’s impulse to put down his pen and walk away from work is very unlike him. Of late, his collaborations with Eggers (“Nosferatu,” “The Lighthouse,” “The Northman”) and with Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things,” “Kinds of Kindness”) have been particularly fruitful. But I was aware of a scene, and, as part of that scene, there were poetry readings and loft performances. He puts you in a world that’s very challenging.