Willem Dafoe Had One Condition To Return As Green Goblin In Spider-Man: No Way Home

By the time "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was released on December 17, 2021, the world had been on lockdown or social distancing for nearly 21 months during COVID-19. The movie became a tentpole event that brought people back to theatres. Not only was "No Way Home" another thrilling adventure starring our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, played by the exuberant Tom Holland, it was also a nostalgic love letter to the millennial Spider-Men, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, and their iconic villains. 

It was a comforting treat to see these beloved characters on screen again, especially the return of Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. With his bulging eyes and Cheshire-cat grin, Dafoe's outrageous performance in the original 2002 film completely nailed the campy spirit of comic book adaptations, before many of them became too self-serious and overly dour. Dafoe was only willing to bring that flamboyant energy back to "No Way Home" if he was given a larger, more present, and tactile role in the story. 

"To do this physical stuff was important to me. One of the first things I said to [director] Jon [Watts] and [producer] Amy [Pascal], basically when they pitched it to me, before there was even a script, was, 'Listen, I don't want to just pop in there as a cameo or just fill in close-ups. I want to do the action because that's fun for me," he told Mulderville. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" may be entirely fan service, but there's so much about Dafoe's performance that helps elevate it into a joyful cinematic experience that feels earned and not just pandering.

Part of what makes "No Way Home" such a web-slinging good time is Dafoe's insistence on doing the majority of his own stunts, "because they're pure. They're pure because what you're doing is what you're doing." Maintaining this purity was difficult on a set with COVID-19 restrictions. Actors Thomas Hayden Church and Rhys Ifans returned as the Sandman and the Lizard only via voiceover; many scenes were filmed with actors separately and then stitched together; shots of Tom Holland walking down a busy New York City street were entirely composed of multilayered visual effects (via Variety). Actually having Willem Dafoe perform the frenetic action sequences, instead of just a CGI version of himself, kept the VFX-heavy film from feeling entirely soulless and gave it some much-needed authenticity.

Dafoe explains to GQ, "It's really impossible to add any integrity or any fun to the character if you don't participate in these things, because all that action stuff informs your relationship to the characters and the story, and also it makes you earn your right to play the character." Dafoe's willingness to take on a bigger, more active role helped Spider-Man's enemies feel like more than just random guest appearances. His Green Goblin provides a narrative throughline as the ringleader who unites the villains from the multiverse against Peter.

Willem Dafoe has always been a dedicated, if not bonkers actor. He commits wholeheartedly to blockbuster fare as equally as auteur art films like the grueling "The Lighthouse." This is so unlike another heavyweight actor, Marlon Brando, who didn't even want to appear on screen in "Superman." Just as he did nearly 20 years ago in the original "Spider-Man," Willem Dafoe gives it his all, and "No Way Home" is better for it.