Willem Dafoe reveals what he has ‘lost’ since he started to age
Fitness and yoga fanatic Willem Dafoe has admitted he is mourning the loss of muscle definition, thick eyebrows and plump lips as he ages.
Willem Dafoe is mourning the loss of muscle definition, thick eyebrows and plump lips as he ages.
The ‘Platoon’ star, who has starred in 150-plus movies and is due to turn 69 in July, also admitted his life no longer feels like an “open road”.
Fitness fanatic Willem – who does a three-hour morning workout and has spent years doing yoga – told The Observer newspaper about what he feels he has “lost” as he gets older: “Not much, you know, maybe a little muscle tone and thickness of eyebrows and your lips get thinner.
“No, I’m joking, but I’m not joking?”
He added about the bleakness of ageing: “When you’re younger, it feels like an open road much more. Once you get further down the line, you start to think about the under-the-line a lot more.”
Willem also said about now being the “oldest” person in every group he’s in: “I read all the time about people I’ve worked with dying, and it’s like, what happened? “And it’s like, well, they were 82 years old.”
But the actor added one of the upsides of getting older is that he never feels bored.
He said: “I’m never bored. In fact, it’s probably the greatest feature of getting older. When I was younger, I was bored and restless a lot.
“I always have things I want to do and there aren’t enough hours in the day.
“It’s only come as I’ve gotten older and other things have gone as I’ve gotten older, and it's a good trade-off, I'd say.”
Willem earned the first of five Oscar nominations for his role in 1987’s ‘Platoon’ and he has been working voraciously in blockbusters and indie films since.
He has racked up appearances in more than 150 films in 50 years, working with directors including David Lynch, Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese.
