The Dance of the Sphinx & the Chimera (1985)

Whether playing Jesus in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) or the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Wisconsin native Willem Dafoe reaches film fans around the world. He hit the ground acting since his movie debut was in Michael Cimino’s acclaimed western Heaven’s Gate (1980). Soon after, Dafoe appeared in William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) and Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986), for which he nabbed an Academy Award nomination. Other Oscar nods followed for Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Florida Project (2017), and At Eternity’s Gate (2018). In between, the prolific performer could be seen in American Psycho (2000) and heard in Finding Nemo (2003). Willem’s résumé also includes Clear and Present Danger (1994), Auto Focus (2002), John Wick (2014), Aquaman (2018), The Lighthouse (2019), and The Northman (2022). Through the years, he’s worked with David Lynch on Wild at Heart (1990), Anthony Minghella on The English Patient (1996), Lars von Trier on Nymphomaniac (2013), Wes Anderson on The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Yorgos Lanthimos on Poor Things (2023). Even though Dafoe is popular with mainstream movie-goers and indie flickers, few are aware of his revealing turn in The Dance of the Sphinx & the Chimera (1985). This rarely-seen short features young Willem prancing around in the nude with an equally naked Ron Vawter. As the two move, they make their privates public and we can see everything. If Mr. Man had a dick as big as Defoe’s, he’d be dancing too!