LOS ANGELES, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Willem Dafoe says he approached his character in The Man in My Basement, in theaters Friday, much differently than other roles. The actor, 70, plays Anniston Bennet, a man who rents a basement apartment from the financially struggling Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins) for two months.
Charles is surprised when Anniston builds a cage in the basement and locks himself in it. As the men talk, Anniston shares his ulterior motives for renting from Charles.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Dafoe described how making Basement was different for him than past films. A prolific actor since 1980, with roles in Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, Spider-Man and last year's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Dafoe said he normally does not believe in developing character histories that aren't included on screen.
"Normally, I don't make a backstory or anything like that because I don't think you can play it," Dafoe said. "You start to point if you create too much outside of the scene."
Anniston, however, starts confessing his misdeeds to Charles, acts for which Anniston believes he deserves punishment. Basement is based on the Walter Mosley novel, which director Nadia Latif provided to Dafoe, along with other resources as reference points.
