In Late Fame, Greta Lee plays Gloria, a showy, magnetic actress and the single woman in a men’s literary club called the Enthusiasm Society. It’s a role that arrived to her suddenly, after Sandra Hüller dropped out, when she got a call and said yes right away, recognizing that material this good is rare. Opposite her is Willem Dafoe, playing a forgotten poet dragged back into relevance by Gloria’s circle, in a movie that reimagines Arthur Schnitzler’s 1895 novella as a story about a New York, and specifically a SoHo, that no longer exists. Lee and Dafoe got on so well while filming that when they recently reconnected to talk about the movie, she invited herself to his farm in Italy.
THURSDAY 10:00 AM JULY 23, 2026 LOS ANGELES
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WILLEM DAFOE: Greta.
GRETA LEE: Willem, Willem.
DAFOE: How are you?
LEE: I’m good.
LEE: How are you?
DAFOE: I’m good. Where are you right now?
LEE: I’m home, in California. Are you in Italy?
DAFOE: I’m in Italy, yeah.
LEE: Oh.
DAFOE: The thing that I remember from making the film is when you left, you said, “You’re not going to recognize me next time you see me.”
LEE: It’s true though, isn’t it?
DAFOE: A little bit. Is that because you felt like between the costumes and the wigs and all that, you were presenting a different self?
LEE: Yeah, I was not talking like myself. And I remember feeling a way about having to meet you for the first time in my wig cap, with a wig on. I thought, “Oh, darn, I don’t really want to do it this way. But, whatever, maybe this works for our gig.”
DAFOE: Okay.
LEE: I’m so happy just to see your face. It’s been so long, and knowing you, you’ve probably done 200 movies since I’ve seen you last. [Laughs]
DAFOE: Don’t make fun. [Laughs]
LEE: I don’t know how you do it.
DAFOE: It seems like more than there are, but sometimes stuff gets held for a correct distribution. Sometimes things get lost for a little while, and then pop up again. But there’s a lot of stuff coming out which I’m excited about.
LEE: Did you do your Robert Eggers movie [Werwulf]?
DAFOE: I certainly did. It was really full on, too. I think it’ll be great.
LEE: I’m excited.
DAFOE: How about you?
LEE: I’m about to leave on Saturday to do something in London. I’m scared to do it.
DAFOE: That’s good. What is it?
LEE: It’s a romance, but it’s between two women, and I haven’t done that before.
DAFOE: What kind of romance? Full on?
LEE: Full on, baby. I’m doing my stretches.
DAFOE: [Laughs] Good for you.
LEE: I’ve always been curious watching you do all your work because you do all kinds of things. Are you seeking things out that feel like—not scary because I don’t think things necessarily scare you—but are you looking for new things?
DAFOE: Of course.
LEE: What is it for you?
DAFOE: The big pleasure is putting yourself in situations that aren’t familiar, so you can learn new ways of thinking, new ways of being. That’s the polite answer. But also, you like to be with people that inspire you. It feel like it’s necessary, having an experience rather than interpreting something. So to do that, you have to trick yourself into something that you don’t know, because working from not knowing towards something is the preferred way, generally. Late Fame was a little strange. I mean, I knew Kent [Jones, the director], but Late Fame was a rare exception where really I saw the material first. I thought, this is a movie, independent from knowing that the movie was already at Killer Films and all that. I was going to find out who had the rights to it.
LEE: Oh, right. You have that incredible story of you had the book on the plane and you saw Kent.
DAFOE: Yep.
LEE: And he was already thinking of you for his movie?
DAFOE: Maybe the plane trip reminded him, but we had this plane trip and I had the book in my bag, and he had the script in his bag. We talked for a lot of the flight because I know him, but I don’t know him well, so we were kind of catching up, and we never once mentioned what we were doing or what we were going to do. And then a couple days later he says, “Listen, there’s this script called Late Fame.” And I said, “Yeah, I know it very well. I thought it would be a great movie.” And then I heard that Samy Birch was writing it, which was great.
LEE: You know I loved making this movie, but one of my favorite things was being with you in Soho. In between takes, you were telling me stories like, “I used to live over there a block away and you know who lived over there. And we had an argument here,” and it was amazing.
DAFOE: New York is filled with memories for me. It’s a city of ghosts and places and people that aren’t there anymore, and I say that in a very bittersweet way. But that was one of the interesting things about being in the movie, because it’s got one foot in the past and one foot in now.
LEE: Yeah.
DAFOE: How much time do you spend in New York?
LEE: I became the adult version of me in New York. I finished college in Illinois, and then I moved to New York when I was 21. I was boots on the ground, trying to be whatever it was, an artist, an actor, something. That was 2001, so I spent almost 20 years there doing all sorts of things.
DAFOE: Yeah.
LEE: Now my relationship with New York is a little different, and when I’m there, maybe I’m trying to reconnect to this old New York that doesn’t exist anymore. I know all kinds of people have different ideas about what old New York is, but I liked asking you, “What’s your favorite Italian spot?” And I know you live in Italy and you’re so connected to the country, so you laughed at me and said, “My kitchen.”
DAFOE: [Laughs] I was being a wise ass.
LEE: No, but I loved that.
DAFOE: We got to talk about how you came to the project.
LEE: I love this because it’s like we actors, I think people assume it’s this beautiful ride and it’s always this wonderful Cinderella story. But I like that part of my story with this was Sandra Hüller dropped out. I love her and we’re pals, but I remember when that happened and I got just a call out of the blue that was like, “Well, Sandy can’t do it. Would you be into this?” With no context. I just read it and I thought, “Oh my god, someone’s really fucked something up because this is a gold mine. I can’t believe this has just come my way.” I said yes on the spot.
DAFOE: How did you know Sandra? Did you work with her?
LEE: No, we didn’t work together. But when I did Past Lives, we were sort of on the same—
DAFOE: Circuit.
LEE: A circuit kind of thing. But she and I really connected because we felt like such outsider weirdos. You know when that happens and you kind of lock eyes and you’re like, yeah, you want to do this together.”
DAFOE: Why an outsider weirdo?
LEE: I’ve always felt kind of weird in this business, I don’t fit. I think being Korean and being a woman, sometimes there’s not an immediate blueprint that makes sense. And everything I’ve done, everything that’s happened, nothing has turned out the way that I thought, for better and for worse.
DAFOE: I was going to say that sounds good.
LEE: Yeah, maybe. But there were certainly moments at the time when it didn’t feel so good, when I thought, “Man, why is this not cracking open for me?”
DAFOE: With not having opportunities or not being working with the right people that you were inspired by?
LEE: I felt lucky that I always had plenty of inspiration. I spent so many years quietly in the background observing, doing all kinds of things, like doing theater and going to the West End in a non-verbal role where I was watching Joanna Lumley or Mark Rylance do their thing. And then I moved to other places and to films where I had a tiny role, but was watching other amazing people. But I never thought I would be handed the gloves and asked to enter the ring.
DAFOE: So that chance came from Past Lives, mostly.
LEE: Basically.
DAFOE: There were other things, but Past Lives was really the thing that triggered a change.
LEE: Yeah, I guess so. And it happened late for me. That was only a few years ago and I was already well into my adulthood. For you, you’ve just been in 200 movies a year since you were how old? [Laughs] I was talking to Kent about it. We have our theories. We’re like, “How do you think he does it?” There are certain years where I know you’ve filmed like five movies, maybe more.
DAFOE: It’s because it’s a combination of films. Some are smaller roles, some are the principal role. Some take four months—there’s a film out there where I’m the principal role, but I basically worked two weeks.
LEE: Yeah.
DAFOE: It’s a good film, so I’m not judging that. I think it’s the mix, and I’m lucky to be able to do that. It seems like a lot, but I do other things as well.
LEE: I know. It’s like you have an extra day of the week.
DAFOE: [Laughs] So far, so good. I still love to do what I do, so that’s the important thing.
LEE: I know you do. And it sounds crazy, but it’s kind of rare for actors. The actual love of it, that ongoing continuation of really loving it.
DAFOE: I really think I have something in my brain. Maybe I fell on my head when I was a kid or something. But no, I really reset every time I do a movie, and it sounds suspicious, but I have that thing where I say, “How do I do this?” It’s very rare that I say, “Oh god, they want me to do this,” or, “Oh, I get what this is.” I try to avoid that like the plague, and that has served me pretty well. Maybe not served the audience well, maybe I’ve made some bad movies, but basically, there’s very few movies where I haven’t enjoyed working.
LEE: I think you can tell. That’s something I want as well. I’m addicted to that part of it, and it’s something that no one else can understand unless you are in it and doing it.
DAFOE: It’s a little embarrassing too, because people are like, “Get a real job. Stop being a kid.” It’s actors talking about difficulties and their process, and people really don’t care.
LEE: Right.
DAFOE: If people give me a forum, I tend to go towards that anyway because I’m always trying to figure it out. So it’s a little embarrassing.
LEE: Do you think you’re the same on every set?
DAFOE: Who knows what this will get all boiled down to as a conversation. But we got to shout out those boys, they were good.
LEE: So precious. And I love seeing them with you because you kind of had to take on that role of, I’m the leader of this group, and I remember each one of them would sort of amaze us, have their moment of grabbing our attention in a different unexpected way.
DAFOE: It’s five, six guys. Edmund has a large role. There’s a key scene at the end. But sometimes you see little pieces of them, and those little pieces are really the connective tissue of the movie. And as you say, they’re young actors. I don’t think of myself as an old, experienced actor, but they sure make you feel like it because they’re just starting out. So they’re always asking me to tell stories about movies.
LEE: Oh, the stories are great.
DAFOE: I get seduced, and then I’m happy to oblige, and then all of a sudden I start listening to myself and I say, “Oh man, you got to cut that out. Don’t turn your experience into these stories that you repeat, that further trap you into an identity that’s inflexible.” So we had some things in common with what’s actually going on in the story.
LEE: Oh, yeah.
DAFOE: And then of course, I loved the little flirtation we have because that also runs very close to the guy that wants to—he’s made some choices, but he doesn’t have much of a sentimental life. And then just the little attention that you give him, he seems like, whoa, yeah, he’s ready to go back to some sort of romance, kickstart something.
LEE: Well, I was happy to oblige.
DAFOE: That was good.
LEE: I have to ask before we go, how’s your farm? How are the animals?
DAFOE: Good.
LEE: What’s the latest?
DAFOE: It’s very green. An alpaca was born days ago. I’ve got lots of baby peacocks and turkeys and sheep. I like it because the thing about doing the actual work of dealing with the animals and the vegetable garden and all that, when I’m not working, I feel well in my body and feel useful.
LEE: I know what you mean.
DAFOE: It’s a refuge for me, and I’m lucky to have it. But I don’t have it all the time because I’m gone a lot.
LEE: I get it.
DAFOE: It’s really hot now, like a lot of places. And I’m like a mother hen. I really am a worrier, it turns out—they’re like my children. So I’m always spraying them and the alpacas have a little shower so that I can get them wet so they can cool off.
LEE: Oh, that’s amazing.
DAFOE: It’s good.
LEE: I’ve got not quite as thorough of a setup as you do, but one of these days, I want to see yours. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. [Laughs]
DAFOE: You ever get this way?
LEE: Yeah.
DAFOE: Because we love having company.
LEE: Oh, great.
DAFOE: That’s the other thing. When you travel so much, when you come back home, it’s really hard to maintain any friendships that you’ll make in movies or just have in life when you’re gone so much. But the one nice thing is being in Rome, it’s such a crossroads. People go through here all the time and we get lots of interesting combinations of visitors here. And they get a kick out of it because the animals are fun, but also we eat really well and it’s a good way to have kind of a country salon.
LEE: Well, great. I’m going to hold you to that. And next time I’m passing through, I’m coming through.
DAFOE: Cool.
LEE: I’ll bathe the alpacas and whatnot.
DAFOE: Excellent.
