robert pattinson and willem dafoe on their characters in The Lighthouse (2019):
When I’d asked Pattinson to tell me about his character, aware of the ickiness of the question — “Who is Ephraim Winslow?” — what followed was five to seven minutes of wracked explication, with much running of hands through hair and pulling of pained faces. “What’s it called when you shine a light through something and it creates a spectrum? Yeah, a prism.” Pause. “It’s an emotional impetus trying to force itself into a brain that doesn’t have the mechanism to…” Pause. “He doesn’t know who he is at all. He’s having an identity crisis. I mean, he’s fucking psychotic.” Pause. “I’m terrible at this question.”
When I ask Dafoe the same thing — “Who is Thomas Wick?” — without hesitation he says: “Thomas Wick is me if I was Thomas Wick.” And he raises a sardonic eyebrow.
it's been 2 years since i first read this interview and i still think about this regularly.
