When Willem Dafoe agreed to reprise his iconic Spidey villain in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the actor had one condition.
It couldn’t be a cameo.
The 66-year-old star wanted to go all-in if he was going to return as Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin in the December film.
“I just was concerned about how contrived it was or whether it was just like a power cameo,” Dafoe said in an electronic-press-kit interview from Sony Pictures, shared online by the film site Mulderville. “I really was worried that I wouldn’t have something to do.”
When he discussed a potential return with the director Jon Watts and the producer Amy Pascal, he was up-front and honest about how much he wanted to be a part of the stunt work in the sequel, he said.
“To do this physical stuff was important to me,” Dafoe said. “One of the first things I said to Jon and Amy, basically when they pitched it to me, before there was even a script, was, ‘Listen, I don’t want to just pop in there as a cameo or just fill in in close-ups. I want to do the action because that’s fun for me.”
Dafoe continued: “It’s really impossible to add any integrity or any fun to the character if you don’t participate in these things because all that action stuff informs your relationship to the characters and the story, and also it makes you earn your right to play the character.”
If you head out to see “No Way Home,” you might be surprised to see just how much Dafoe is in the final film. Not only is he in speaking scenes, but he’s also in quite a few action and fight sequences. You’ll probably leave wondering how much of that is actually him.
Willem Dafoe wanted to do his own stunts in “No Way Home.” Columbia Pictures
Probably a decent amount.
In 2002’s film, Dafoe famously did a lot of his own stunt work. On one of the film’s commentaries, which Insider recently listened to, visual-effects artists recalled how Dafoe wanted to ride the glider and perform as much of his stunt work as he could.
A booklet that came with the film’s three-movie collection notes that Dafoe “spent hours with stunt coordinator Jeff Habberstad and glider technicians, rehearsing on the Goblin glider.”
Behind-the-scenes footage shows Dafoe on the glider and flying on wires for that film.
Here’s Willem Dafoe performing on the glider in 2002’s “Spider-Man.” Columbia Pictures via YouTube
According to a 2014 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dafoe performs Ashtanga yoga every day. At the time, the actor had practiced the exercise for 25 years. It’s something he still keeps up with.
“You should see how good at yoga he is,” Tom Holland recently told fans at a trailer event for “No Way Home” that Insider attended.
“I’m supposed to be Spider-Man, supposed to be really flexible,” Holland said of Dafoe. “We would do scenes, and the next morning, I could hardly get out of bed, and this guy sprung out of bed. Not that we were sleeping in the same bed. But he was amazing.”
