Willem Dafoe and 'The Mustang' Director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

The Lighthouse was one of Willem Dafoe's biggest acting challenges: Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are onscreen for almost every second of Robert Eggers' film, shot in harsh weather on a barely hospitable stretch of the North Atlantic. But Dafoe says in our interview that he delighted in the challenge of having nowhere to hide.Then we talk with Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, whose film The Mustang is one of the most underrated of 2019. The Mustang stars Matthias Schoenaerts as a Nevada prison inmate whose life is changed when he joins a program to train wild horses. Among other things, she talks about why "cinema is to be seen in cinema."Here are highlights of the episode, with timestamps:1:25: Willem Dafoe interview begins with him explaining how he was cast in The Lighthouse.3:30: How our feelings about Dafoe's The Lighthouse character, Thomas Wake, change during the film: "You see his various strategies to dominate or ameliorate or find some sort of… peace or sense of security."7:00: How to play a potentially unlikeable character: "In order to not have them be a cartoon or not have them be just a mouthpiece to express a point of view or explain something, to really represent them, you have to take their side."10:28: "You know, the challenges are the blessings."12:50: We make Willem Dafoe laugh, by asking him what he's learned.15:40: How Willem Dafoe has fun.18:00: Check out MovieMaker.com/Subscriptions and use offer code XMASMM.19:10: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre interview begins.19:45: She tells us why prison movies are so compelling. 23:00: "The man sees through the eyes of the animal how aggressive he is, and the animal teaches him patience, respect and trust." 30:20: Did being French help her see the American criminal justice system more clearly for The Mustang? 34:55: "We need to preserve cinema. Cinema should be seen in cinema, not on a laptop or in a plane or an iPhone which is even more terrifying."  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.