While some comic book characters have proven to be ever-recastable on the big screen, some actors leave an indelible mark on the roles they play – and Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn is a perfect example. There have certainly been jokes made about the Green Goblin costume he first wore in 2002's Spider-Man (specifically about the helmet), but his performances as the character are perfection, and it's because Dafoe totally understands the way in which the role needs to be played.
Willem Dafoe has been earning raves of late for his performance in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu (I'm personally a part of that chorus, as seen in my four star CinemaBlend review), but he recently spoke a bit about his time playing Spider-Man's greatest foe in an interview with Empire. He spoke about his specific approach to his performance, and he explained that the key was recognizing it as a dual role: playing both Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. Speaking to his time making Spider-Man: No Way Home, Dafoe said,
It was just a pleasure to return to that character. Just like the original, I like the fact that within a scene it could careen from being goofy comedy to drama to action. It has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. And it was a double role. Everybody concentrates on the Green Goblin, but that’s mostly action stuff. I like doing that, and I think I can do it gracefully. But the real meat in the first one is the guy without the mask, Norman Osborn. Those are the meaty scenes. So when people complain about the mask, it’s like, ‘Come on.’ The role is Norman.
Of course, there is no better sequence that emphasizes this truth than the sequences in Spider-Man in which Norman Osborn converses with his more sinister personality – either via his reflection in a mirror or hearing a voice in his head while talking with his mask.
The extreme distance between the two halves is also brilliantly utilized in Spider-Man: No Way Home when the mad Goblin reveals that he has been pretending to be the "innocent" Norman – which Willem Dafoe directly spoke to in the interview:
And then in [No Way Home], we have a little bit more Norman, because part of the game is, you don’t know how much of the Green Goblin is back and how much it’s Norman. That’s the whole play.
Whether or not we will ever seen Willem Dafoe play Norman Osborn again is an unknown at present, but MCU fans can keep fingers crossed, and we can all appreciate that his past performances as the character are endlessly rewatchable. The bad news is that neither Sam Raimi's Spider-Man nor Jon Watts' Spider-Man: No Way Home are currently available in any subscription streaming libraries, but it is easy to acquire both either digitally (both blockbusters are available for rental or purchase) or via physical media (you can find them on either 4K UHD or Blu-ray).
And if you're hoping to see a different side of Willem Dafoe's incredible talent, Nosferatu is now playing in theaters and placed third at the weekend box office.
