Willem Dafoe on Sway in the Morning
When the radio host put the thespian to task
In the winter of 2013, Scott Cooper's “Out of the Furnace” escaped onto movie screens. A shambolic mess, Furnace's cast featured heavy-hitters on the roster: a post-Batman Christian Bale, Casey Affleck acting with the safety off, Woody Harrelson playing a grizzled meth addict, Zoe Saldana hoping for an Oscar by skipping the Hair-and-Makeup trailer, Forest Whitaker grunting through his line deliveries and Willem Dafoe, showing up for work. Affleck plays a military vet scrambling for money through bare-knuckle boxes, the books for the illicit sport kept by Dafoe's John Petty. Each character in the film carries a rasp in their voice as if all the smoke from the mill town is carried in their lungs. Presented with a desaturated color palette, time-lapse montages of clouds migrating in a polluted sky, and sporadic freak-out moments where actors scream loud enough to convince the flyover states that the film is of any discernible quality, Furnace was surprisingly shunned by the Academy who typically celebrate such pandering mediocrity come Oscar season.
I will admit to having seen the film opening weekend, and outside of Casey Affleck yelling in a kitchen and Woody Harrelson shooting up meth and jogging in place in an abandoned warehouse (? I think?) I cannot recall a detail or a line of the film. However, Out of the Furnace did feature one significant contribution to film culture and society: Willem Dafoe's appearance on Sway in the Morning.
Honoring his reputation as the king of the fit, Willem Dafoe shows up in a black long-sleeve and a scarf that he probably borrowed from Darren Aronofsky. Seemingly as puzzled as anyone as to why he's on a show with hip-hop radio stalwart Sway Calloway, he discusses his roles in Spider-Man, Platoon, and Out of the Furnace. In fact, the first ten minutes of the discussion are only perversely interesting because Dafoe--perhaps the best actor to juggle the avant-garde and the formal-- is such an odd choice of guest for Sway in the Morning. Otherwise, the interview is rote and awkward. Until Sway closes out by asking the Oscar-nominated thespian to confirm a certain detail about his role in the erotic thriller "Body of Evidence."
Directed by Eli Udel who released some of the more subversive, transgressive works of cinema such as “Christiane F.” and “Last Exit to Brooklyn,” “Body of Evidence” appears to be one of several deranged erotic thrillers of the early 90s such as “Jade,” “Sliver,” and “Basic Instinct” (I'll admit to only having seen the latter.) Of no lasting cultural import, “Body of Evidence” was still resonant enough with Sway that he had to bring Dafoe to the stand. Supposedly unable to return to the hood unless he asked: was the cunnilingus scene in the film simulated? And was the recipient Madonna?
"That was Madonna," Dafoe bashfully reveals.
"That was Madonna!" Sway excitedly yells. "And I saw the scene, man! You had your . . . face in her . . .crotch . . ."
"Yeah," Dafoe confirms, a shark smile crawling across his face. He nods, repeating, "Yeah." A chuckle releases as his Kentucky drawl slips through his lips, "We don't tell nothin'!" Who "we" is remains undetermined, but the sound effect of an audience cheers on the soundboard, Sway's co-host declaring, "You can go back to the hood, Sway!"
"You know we give him props!" Sway triumphantly shouts as he daps up the “At Eternity's Gate” actor. "What did it smell like?" Sway brutishly queries, prompting a large laugh and a proud reply from Dafoe: "Like Ice Cream."
In all, an entertaining watch, not to mention a gratifying one. Congratulations, Willem Dafoe. And Sway Calloway, you can return to the hood now.