10 Best Willem Dafoe Film Performances
2. Bobby Hicks - The Florida Project (2017)
In a lot of ways, Dafoe's turn in this slice of life drama is his most surprising. With Bobby Hicks, there are no demons lurking in his closest; he is not evil or creepy, nor is he in any real way extraordinary. In The Florida Project, the actor is at his most level-headed and virtuous, kind, lovable and yet subtly tragic.
Hicks is the manager of the Magic Castle Motel, which sits just outside of Disney World in Florida. At the motel, Hicks finds himself looking after six-year-old Moonee (a mesmerising Brooklynn Prince) as her mother (Bria Vinaite) attempts to make money to keep her family out of trouble.
The Florida Project is a hauntingly beautiful film about childhood and hope, and Dafoe's performance sits at its centre, offering a sense of morality and peace to the film's otherwise distressing themes. This is Dafoe's best dramatic performance, a quiet, refrained but visceral masterclass that really should have won the actor his long-overdue Oscar.