#Willem dafoe van gogh how to#
#Willem dafoe van gogh movie#

HeвЂ™s kind of going like Buster Keaton.вЂќДafoe feels a connection between his portrayals of Van Gogh and of Jesus Christ. вЂњAt aВ certain moment, Willem and the DP were wearing each otherвЂ™s clothes,вЂќ Schnabel said, вЂњwith Willem walking with the split diopter, filming the guys watching him as heвЂ™s walking to where he dies. We say what has to be accomplished and Julian lets us do it.вЂќДЄt one point, Schnabel asked Delhomme to split the camera image with a diopter to show a distorted point of view that would express Van GoghвЂ™s increasing anxiety. HeвЂ™s right there, heвЂ™s framing you, you are feeling him, heвЂ™s an extension of you and you are an extension of him. вЂњBenoГ®t was my biggest acting partner,вЂќ said Dafoe. One shot from DafoeвЂ™s POV shows reaction shots of locals standing outside a bar staring at the wounded painter as he limps home. And for many scenes shot from the point of view of the painter, Dafoe strapped on the camera rig. Honoree, the actors speak directly to the camera. This one had that power, which is why it was a pleasure to do and why itвЂ™s a strong movie.вЂќДЇor a scene in which Paul Gaugin (Oscar Isaac) and Van Gogh argueВ at Chapel of St. Not all roles are like that, not all movies are like that. You become involved in a deep, transformative way. When youвЂ™re doing it with someone like Julian, who had a connection to Van Gogh and painting all his life, itвЂ™s an intense experience.

#Willem dafoe van gogh movie#

вЂњThe movie is an expression, an ordered record of that experience. вЂњWeвЂ™re put in situation where you forget yourself and enter this other territory guided by what you know and imagine,вЂќ he said. Ultimately, Dafoe said вЂњAt EternityвЂ™s GateвЂќ demanded transmogrification as much as filmmaking. вЂњIt was moving to me, and then when we finished I found out that was the field where he painted one of his last paintingsвЂ¦В The truth is, I was seeing a lot of landscapes he was seeing.вЂќ вЂњI had a real connection to that improvisation,вЂќ Dafoe said.

YouвЂ™re not thinking about Van Gogh.вЂќДЇor a scene in which Van Gogh prepares to paint in the fields, he looks, runs, lies down to look at the sky, tastes the dirt. The quality of being there is right, your hands are full, you are engaged.

It was a beautiful place to be as an actor where you donвЂ™t have to produce or explain or show something. вЂњEverything else sweeps over you,вЂќ he said. ThereвЂ™s a moment where it starts to come together, it doesnвЂ™t look like the shoes, but it deeply captures the soul of those shoes, you experience it.вЂќДЇinally, Dafoe got lost in the action: running through fields with a heavy wooden easel on his back, having an inner dialogue based on things Van Gogh wrote in his letters.

#Willem dafoe van gogh how to#

He introduced me to how to get into whatвЂ™s behind the surface, talking about a spiritual impulse.вЂќДafoe had to build up his confidence for a scene in the film where the camera shows him at the canvas, painting shoes.

Julian taught me how to see a different way, he kept saying вЂpaint the light.вЂ™ I had a shift of understanding of what you see with a trained eye, putting marks next to each other to see how they vibrate with each other. вЂњWe had a little factory of painters making Van Goghs for set dressing. вЂњThis is not a traditional biopic,вЂќ Dafoe said. Schnabel taught Dafoe how to paint the light, how to hold the brush and make marks and organize his materials. He communed with nature in the same Arles landscapes Van Gogh painted, tracked closely by cinematographerВ BenoГ®t Delhomme and a handheld camera. 23 in Toronto.Dafoe wanted to be as close to the painter as he could his way was to become a painter himself. But At EternityвЂ™s Gate mainly succeeds, dusting off a centuryвЂ™s worth of global celebrity to both animate a suffering soul and rescue a radical artistic mission from the museum gift shop.ДЄt EternityвЂ™s Gate opens Nov. If the approach feels empathetic rather than pretentious, itвЂ™s thanks to a crucial anchor: Willem DafoeвЂ™s subtle and humble performance conjures a pitiable van Gogh, shredded by doubt and estranged from people, yet urgently aware of his painterly vision.Дrawing heavily on van GoghвЂ™s letters to his art dealer brother Theo, the script sometimes overstates its case, in early expository scenes in Paris, in pronouncements of the artistвЂ™s destiny.

The results are highly affecting вЂ“ so much so, that viewers who suffer from motion sickness may find the film hard to watch. With shaky camera movement, intense close-ups and deep vistas, painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel and cinematographer BenoГ®t Delhomme invite you to walk in Vincent van GoghвЂ™s shoes as the artist tramps the countryside around Arles, communing ecstatically with nature and clashing with the uncomprehending locals.