Spider-Man: No Way Home Star Andrew Garfield Praises Willem Dafoe’s “Fearless” Approach

Willem Dafoe returned as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home 19 years after he originally played the character. Dafoe was one of the highlights of the film, with some fans referring to the actor as the best Marvel Cinematic Universe villain yet. Now, the actor’s No Way Home co-star Andrew Garfield, has come out in praise of Dafoe’s performance. In a new featurette from the film, Garfield commends the Green Goblin actor on his approach. You can check it out down below.

“Willem is just fearless, and Willem doesn’t give a flying whatever. ‘I’m doing this,’” Garfield said. “He’s just like, so un-self-conscious as an actor, just totally free, and that’s the dream.”

Dafoe returns to the role that he played when he was about 46 years old, and it seems that he wanted it to be very authentic. The actor had one stipulation before signing on to reprise his Green Goblin role– he wanted to do all of his own stunts. In a previous interview with Murderville the Spider-Man star broke down how he came aboard No Way Home.

“To do this physical stuff was important to me,” Dafoe said. “In fact, one of the first things I said to Jon [Watts] and Amy [Pascal], 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.’ Also, it’s really impossible to add any integrity or any fun to the character if you don’t participate in these things. Because all of that action stuff informs your relationships to the characters and the story. It makes you earn your right to play the character, in a funny way.” 

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, for the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange, the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man. The film stars Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, J.K. Simmons, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, Rhys Ifans and Willem Dafoe. 

What did you think of Willem Dafoe’s performance? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @NateBrail up on Twitter!

Spider-Man: No Way Home is now available on 4K, Blu Ray, and digital download!