-Our first guest is a four-time Oscar nominee
starring in the acclaimed new film "Nightmare Alley,"
which is in theaters now, and also in the giant --
probably the biggest movie of all time,
"Spider-Man: No Way Home."
Here's Willem Dafoe! [ Cheers and applause ]
That's what I'm talking about!
That's exactly right.
Hey, buddy. -Hey, Jimmy.
-It's great to see you, buddy. -How are you?
-Thank you so much for being on the show.
-Good to see you. Sure, my pleasure.
-That's a beautiful door behind you.
-Yeah, it's nice, huh? -I love it, yeah.
You might be the first person to Zoom from Rome on our show,
so thank you for doing that. -Ah, okay.
-I appreciate that. -Yeah, my pleasure.
-Yeah. Do you live in Rome?
-I live in Rome, and I also live in New York.
I married an Italian, so I live both places.
-Yeah. What is your favorite pasta?
Do you have a favorite pasta?
-You know, I like the simplest kind.
Spaghetti aglio e olio e peperoncino.
Very simple. -That's my man.
Yes, and peperoncino. That is so good.
All right, I want to come stay at your place.
-That would be my last meal.
People ask me that question a lot.
"What would be your last meal?" That would be it.
-That would be it? Wow.
Is there a place that you get it from?
That you know? -Where else? My kitchen.
[ Laughter ] -You're a good man.
You know, you've had such a great career.
I was looking at some stuff on the Internet,
all the stuff about you, and you've been in
over 100 movies.
And "The New York Times," they named you
one of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Not too shabby. -It's fantastic.
-Not too shabby. -No, it's nice.
I -- Hometown paper, you know?
When "New York Times" says something nice about you,
you do pay attention. -Yeah, you do, I agree.
I've been on the opposite side of that.
[ Laughter ]
What do you think? What do you think
when you see your name on that list?
And you go, "Well, yeah." You're like a young kid going,
"I might try acting."
Now you're one of the greatest actors ever.
-You know, it's encouragement. What can you say?
-Yeah. -It just -- You know.
Things are sometimes a little uncertain,
you know, being an actor. And it just gives you energy
and tells you to keep on going, and lets you know
someone's out there watching. -Yeah.
A lot of people are out there watching you, buddy.
I also saw you got a Hollywood star on the Walk of Fame,
which I assume that you should've gotten already.
But that's kind of awesome. That's kind of cool, right?
-[ Laughs ] Yeah, I mean, it's --
I remember when, first time I went to L.A.,
I'm bringing my kid there, and he loved movies.
And I would take him and show him the stars
on the Walk of Fame.
And then, to be part of that is --
Yeah, it's -- it's not something I was thinking about,
but it's -- I'm very happy that they invited me there, so...
-Do you know who -- what other stars are next to you?
'Cause that would be concerning for me.
I would... [ Laughter ]
-There goes the neighborhood, right?
[ Laughter ]
-That's why they don't want to give me the star,
'cause it'd just bum everyone else out.
Let's talk about your movies.
First of all, "Nightmare Alley."
Wow, is it a great film and just...
"creepy" is probably the best way I can put it.
-This is very much kind of a new noir.
-Yes, it is noir. -It's kind of a rethinking
of the classic -- classic film of the same title.
I play the head of a carnival.
I run a geek show. -Yep.
-Kind of a dark figure. But a fun figure to play.
Pragmatic. Takes care of his people.
Knows who's he is, but maybe not --
You don't want him as your neighbor.
[ Laughter ]
-Hence the Hollywood Walk of -- the Hollywood star.
You have your whole block to yourself.
And how's Bradley Cooper? Is he doing okay?
It's our old buddy. -He's a good egg.
I mean, he's got a good work ethic,
and he lives and breathes movies.
He loves movies. -Yeah, he does.
-They had shot half of the movie before --
they had to take a break for COVID.
-Yep. -And then, by time I came in,
I'm in the first half of the movie,
the first part of the movie, and Guillermo and him
had such a shorthand that is was really fun
to work with the two of them.
Most of my stuff is with Bradley.
You know, we were inventing stuff.
We were playing around with stuff.
Sometimes that stuff doesn't make it in the movie.
But you kind of feel like... -Yeah.
-...that informs what is in the movie
and kind of sends the scenes on their way.
-Yeah. He came on our show once,
and we started laughing, and we probably laughed
for 25 minutes straight. [ Laughter ]
Couldn't use any of it. But we just couldn't stop.
-Sounds like a real fun show, Jimmy!
[ Laughter ] -Everyone else was bummed, yeah.
It was like -- yeah. So, you do this beautiful movie.
I would say beautiful because it really is just a gorgeous film.
And then, you do another well-shot movie
but more of a pop hit. You do "Spider-Man."
And it's -- [ Cheers and applause ]
It's already made over like $1 billion or something.
-Uh-huh. [ Laughter ]
-In theaters only, though. Right?
-Yeah, but so is "Nightmare Alley" right now.
And they're two movies that you really want to see in theaters.
Just because...
Well, for "Spider-Man," the size of the effects
and just the size of the story.
And also, for "Nightmare Alley" --
Well, they're both beautifully shot.
They're movies you should see in the theater.
So, right now, they're both in theaters, so...
-Yeah. -...run out.
-Go out and check them out. Wear a mask and enjoy.
Yeah -- Did you -- Was it so secretive?
'Cause I didn't -- I had no idea you were in this movie.
I know you knew that you were in it, but...
[ Laughter ]
Did they, like, hide it? Did they have you wear a --
-They did, they did. And they did it beautifully.
And, first of all, I thought, you know, these movies --
these Marvel movies, have such a strong fan base.
People are so curious about them.
Even when they're being made,
people are trying to figure out what's going on.
But they really decided they were going to keep
some of the elements a secret.
And I won't say what some of those elements are
for anyone that hasn't seen the movie.
But, for me -- Yeah, when I'd go to set,
they put me in a black cloak and always had me in a car
with dark windows.
And they didn't want me hanging out anyplace
because they didn't want --
-Didn't want to know that you were in town.
-And I didn't think it would work,
but, actually, it did, and only just before
the movie was released, they started
kind of hinting things in the trailers.
So it was -- -They did a great job.
-It was cool. -Yeah, it was cool.
And you're amazing in it.
And thank you again for coming on the show. I appreciate it.
I want to show everyone a clip. [ Cheers and applause ]
-My pleasure. -Here's Willem Dafoe
in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Take a look at this.
-Octavius?
-Osborn?
-What -- What happened to you?
-What happened to --
You're the walking corpse.
-What do you mean? -You died, Norman.
Years ago.
-You're insane. -God I love it, here.
-What are you talking about?
He's standing right there. He's not --
-Dead.
They both died, fighting Spider-Man.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What?! So cool!
Willem Dafoe, everybody. "Spider-Man: No Way Home"
and "Nightmare Alley" are in theaters.
Go to the theaters and check them out.