Willem Dafoe Says Record-Breaking U.S. Box Office Should Be ‘Spread Out a Little Bit’: ‘The Audience Comes Mainly From Three Huge Movies’

The actor, who starred in Sam Raimi's 'Spider-Man,' also said he is grateful not 'to be haunted' by a 'mono-identity' attached to his character of Green Goblin Willem Dafoe, who is at the Zurich Film Festival presenting the opening night film “Tenzing,” spoke about the record-breaking 2026 box office while emphasizing the importance of watching the Jennifer Peedom epic in cinemas. The film, which opened to warm Zurich audiences last night, will have a limited theatrical release in the U.S. from Oct. 9 ahead of its global streaming debut on Apple TV on Oct. 16. Speaking about his turn in the comic book world, Dafoe said he became a part of it at the “start of business-as-normal making movies from comic books.” “When I was proposed this role, some of my friends were like: ‘Are you kidding?

Are you going to play this green guy? That sounds like a terrible movie!’” “I was not a big comic book fan; I didn’t know about this world, but Sam Raimi did,” he added. I liked him so much that he really is what got me into it.

Once I was in it, I had really fun things to do.” The actor said he “had done some movies that had found success” but that, to this day, the most consistent point of recognition from audiences is “probably the Green Goblin.” “For better or for worse,” he said. They are right up there with Bela Tarr,” he quipped. Dafoe plays Colonel John Hunt, the leader of the 1953 British expedition team.

Commenting on the experience of shooting on real mountains at high altitude, Dafoe said the entire film team had to be “very careful.” “We had great safety people,” he noted. There are 10 guys purely helping us slip in and making sure we’re safe, helping us if we struggle […] That’s the tension. Nature is the biggest partner you’ll have because it tells you what you have to do.

There is no invented world. It’s a world that really exists; you’re not questioning [its] authenticity. You’re definitely on this mountain, and you’re definitely having a little hard time breathing, or you’re fatigued, or you’re hungry, or you have to go to the toilet, and there’s no toilet there… All kinds of challenges and, on top of that, you’ve got the scenes.”