Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe is one of the most distinctive and versatile actors of his generation, with a career spanning more than four decades across independent cinema, Hollywood, and theatre. Known for his intense presence and ability to completely transform himself for a role, Dafoe has worked with some of the most influential directors in contemporary cinema and has appeared in films including Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, The English Patient, Spider-Man, The Florida Project, and Poor Things.

Throughout his career, Dafoe has received four Academy Award nominations and numerous other international accolades, establishing himself as an actor capable of moving effortlessly between unconventional, theatrical characters and major mainstream productions. His willingness to experiment and constantly reinvent himself has made him one of the most recognisable and respected figures in contemporary film. This ability to inhabit different identities became an important starting point for the editorial we created with him.

MY ROLE

My role in the project focused on creating content around the editorial, from capturing backstage moments and assisting during the shoot to producing the video interview and editing the final content for social media. I worked alongside the photography and production teams to document the process while also making sure the content translated naturally into a digital format. The aim was to create social content that complemented the main editorial rather than simply documenting it.

I was also involved directly in the shooting process, assisting with the production and helping capture the atmosphere and moments happening between takes. This allowed me to work closely with the team and respond to the energy of the set, while later shaping the footage into short-form pieces designed for social platforms. The editing process focused on preserving the theatrical quality of the shoot while making the content immediate and engaging for a digital audience.

BACKSTAGE

The editorial was photographed by Sven Baenziger inside a ballet studio in Rome, creating a theatrical environment where performance and reality could constantly shift. The shoot explored Willem moving between different characters and identities, using the language of theatre, movement, and transformation. My backstage content focused on capturing this process from a more immediate perspective — the preparation, interactions, movement, and moments between photographs — while assisting during the shooting allowed me to experience and document how the visual story came together in real time.

THE TEAM

The project was led visually by Sven Bänziger, a photographer known for his distinctive portrait work with internationally recognised figures including Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Radcliffe, John Malkovich, Alicia Vikander, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, and Chadwick Boseman. Alongside stylist Aline de Beauclaire, Sven created the theatrical visual language of the story, allowing Dafoe to move between different characters and identities. Working inside the Scuola di Ballo del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma added another layer of performance and movement, bringing together fashion, cinema, theatre, and portraiture in one visual world.

SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS