A lot of things connect me with Greece,” he said Willem Dafoe on the occasion of his new film Vasilis Katsoupiswith Title “Inside” in which he stars and is released today (9/3) by Tulip produced by the Greek Heretic, having already received warm reviews from the 73rd Berlin Film Festival where it had its world premiere.

“Whenever someone invites me to Greece I will come!” admitted the American actor, pointing out his strong ties with our country. After all, he had collaborated in the past with Thodoros Angelopoulos in “Dust of Time”, while we will also see him in the latest creation of Giorgos Lanthimos “Poor Things”, a Victorian tale of love and science fiction.

Vassilis Katsoupis’ first feature length fiction film is an existential exploration of human needs, the essential value of art and the luxury of human life. Willem Dafoe plays Nimo, a would-be art thief trapped in a luxurious hi-tech penthouse in New York, where, without being able to have any contact with the outside world, he is called upon to use all his acumen and ingenuity, in order to survive.

At times reminiscent of an urban, closed-doors version of Tom Hanks’ “Castaway,” “Inside”—based on an idea by the director himself and written by Ben Hopkins—gave Dafoe the opportunity to create yet another tortured and extreme character, as he had done in the past in “The Last Temptation” by Scorsese, “The Antichrist” by Lars von Trier or “At the Gate of Eternity” by Julian Schnabel.

Referring to his collaboration with the Greek director, at the press conference held at the Athens Conservatory last Monday, Dafoe said: “He is very kind and generous, but I have to tell you that he was quite determined and even tough on the set. Basically, he was straightforward and clear, the kind of partner you want to have.” For his part, Vassilis Katsoupis said that almost every scene they shot with Dafoe they had from the first take. “That’s a bit embarrassing for the director, but it gave us time to try other things. Anything crazy we could think of, he wanted us to try. He never said no,” he noted.

The script of “Inside” reached the hands of the award-winning actor through the acquaintance of the film’s producer Giorgos Karnavas with the American executive producer Jim Stark, who has contacts with Dafoe. “We met with Vassilis and George several times. They were looking for the right apartment as well as the art collection. The way they thought about solving all these issues convinced me that they were preparing something very special and that I would like to work with them. This film has a lot for an actor to enjoy, such as the fact that there is very little dialogue. Personally, I love working with physical expression. So, ‘Inside’ seemed to me a wonderful opportunity to follow the character and live with him an unforgettable experience,” explained Dafoe.

Answering a related question about what reasons he might refuse to act in a film, he said that the only fear he has is that the film will end up being bad. “Each film is something new, and even though I’ve acted in so many, each one has something to teach you, a lesson. The main thing for me is to know why I am making a film. If the reasons are right, even if the result is not so good, I can live with it. I have shot too many films. Every time I start over and ask myself the same thing: “How am I going to do this?”. So there is some fear, but when you’ve experienced it enough times, you start to feel comfortable with it. Sometimes I think that perhaps the biggest fear for me is certainty. I like to walk towards something unknown and try to make it accessible to me. When you let go of something, and stay focused on it, you will eventually find contact with both material and people.”

As for the character he plays, he doesn’t agree that an actor necessarily identifies with the role he plays, but he believes it stays with him forever: “When you have daily, long hours of shooting, it’s natural that the character starts to affect who you are . He inevitably gets inside you and is there even when the camera isn’t working to bring him to the surface. Inside, for example, took six weeks to shoot. During this time I had no other life, so it starts to take over you. Not rushed but naturally. We also decided from the beginning that the script would be shot in chronological order, to show the passage of time. Day by day, I saw my hair and nails grow longer, I lost weight… I was literally living with Nimos. My body was telling us how long this guy was in there.. So inside, from that process, you learn a lot, which is hard to unlearn. So yes, the characters I’ve played stay with me forever but in a different way.”

Speaking about Nimos, the hero of “Inside”, he considers that his transformation, apart from physical, is mainly spiritual. “He was basically forced to face himself, he just looked inside – ‘inside’, as the title of the film is – which he probably had never tried before. The fact that he begins to interact with what is around him and from a certain point he also creates his own art, I think that is what ultimately saves him.”