Deeply moving, warm and oddly relatable, The Florida Project explores the innocence of childhood.
Just outside the highly dreamed about utopia, Disney World resides a rambunctious six-year-old, Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her rebellious mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) in the big, purple, Magic Castle Hotel. The outspoken and rather comical pair live week to week in this low-budget hotel managed by Bobby (William Dafoe) who tackles a challenging job with kindness and compassion. Despite her living conditions and impoverished status, Moonee finds a way to go an adventure daily. Taking the role as the leader, Moonee uses her creativity and imagination to get herself knee-deep in mischief. Moonee and her playmates celebrate life as each day is a day for adventure and spontaneity. Moonee handles every obstacle with humor and whit which shields her of the harsh truths of her dangerous reality.
The Knockturnal was able to view the film during a screening at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, CA. Check out snippets from a Q & A with William Dafoe.
Interviewer: How was it working with a cast that had several actors whom had never acted before?
William Dafoe: Somewhere there is an ambition for me as an actor to appear as a non actor because some of my favorite performances are not very acted performances. I mean really my ambition is often to try to disappear into the fabric of the story or really pass and this was a great example of that because mixing with people who actually lived there, people that weren’t professional actors, some were, some were first time actors, it was such a mix that it was really about making the world and being in that world with those people and what that does is it lets you concentrate on the thing you’re doing and kind of leaves yourself behind and that doesn’t mean you feel less passionate or less personal about it, in fact you learn things that make you enter the material in a way without a preconceived notion or with an idea that you’re conveying something. You really experience it and I think the best movies are when the actors, when you share an experience with something happening to the actors rather them dumping their stuff on you.
Interviewer: Well there is a sense here, different from any performance of yours before, if for some reason your life had taken a different turn, a much less fortunate one and this could be where we find William Dafoe working today.
William Dafoe: I appreciate that and I like that and that’s the way I approach every character. The very basic to performing is, “what if,” what if my life was different, I could be this guy. Somewhere fundamentally I believe that you, me, everyone here are capable of all types of behavior, all kinds of thoughts, all kinds of impulses, we’re capable of everything. There’s kind of a myth of personality, that’s something we agree on to function in our lives and to keep us kind of sane but when you’re given a license to step out that and there’s a structure, you can really inhabit things in a way that is new for you and explores new territory. So to play something like this is fun, it’s fun for me.
FilmStruck, a film streaming service for film lovers, by film lovers that offers instant streaming access to critically acclaimed classic movies, hard-to-find gems and cult favorites from Turner Classic Movies and The Criterion Collection hosted the special screening. They partnered with Variety Screening Series to showcase the most anticipated films of the year, each campaigning for the most coveted awards for cinematic achievement. The film is now in theaters.
