Willem Dafoe inspired by 'Fault' co-star Shailene Woodley's 'optimism and fresh energy'

By the time Shailene Woodley was born in 1991, her "Fault in Our Stars" co-star Willem Dafoe had racked up 15 years in the acting biz — and an Academy Award nomination to boot. But during a visit to TODAY Thursday, Dafoe said he doesn’t mind the generation gap one bit.

“The truth is, it’s wonderful,” the actor said of sharing the screen with Woodley, 20-year-old Ansel Elgort and 19-year-old Nat Wolff in the new film.


Laughing, he added, “There’s an optimism and a fresh energy that sometimes you can’t find with people of my age.”

“The hardened cynic,” TODAY's Willie Geist joked.

That’s certainly true of Dafoe’s character in the film. He plays Peter Van Houten, a bitterly reclusive author hiding out in Amsterdam.

Make no mistake, though: Dafoe can do silly material, too. Later this month he’ll take to the New York stage with actor-choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov in the absurdist dark comedy “The Old Woman.” And he confirmed to TODAY that he’ll have a role in “Finding Dory,” the much-awaited sequel to “Finding Nemo.”

“It’s in the works,” he said. “We’ve started already.”

Lucie Jansch / Brooklyn Academy of Music

Willem Dafoe with Mikhail Baryshnikov in "The Old Woman," a vaudevillian drama hitting the New York stage this month

“The Fault in Our Stars” opens in theaters June 6. “The Old Woman” runs from June 22 to 29 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Source: today

Dafoe confirms Finding Dory role

Press Association - Willem Dafoe is providing his voice talents for Finding Dory

Willem Dafoe has confirmed he is reprising his role in the Finding Nemo sequel.

The Spider-Man actor voiced Moorish Idol Gill in the 2003 Academy Award-winning movie and told Total Film that he will be playing the fish again in Finding Dory, which he vowed would even surpass the original.

"I've already started," he said. "It's even better than the first. It's fantastic. It's good to say I think it's going to be better than the first; that's good advertising!"

The new film picks up about a year after the action of Finding Nemo, with Ellen DeGeneres' forgetful fish Dory on her own adventure to reunite with loved ones.

Willem, 58, went on: "It's difficult to repeat a success and so many years afterwards, but it's really cool.

"I've done one session so far and I just am going to have such a good time."

Albert Brooks is also returning to voice Nemo's dad Marlin, while newcomers include Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory's parents.

Finding Dory is due to be released in 2016.

Source: uk.movies.yahoo.com