Willem Dafoe
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Appleton, Wisconsin, USA
Known for the darkly eccentric characters he often plays, Willem Dafoe is one of the screen's more provocative and engaging actors. Strong-jawed and wiry, he has commented that his looks make him ideal for playing the boy next door -- if you happen to live next door to a mausoleum.Although his screen persona may suggest otherwise, Dafoe is the product of a fairly conventional Midwestern upbringing. The son of a surgeon and one of seven siblings, he was born on July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dafoe began acting as a teenager, and at the age of seventeen he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Growing weary of the university's theatre department, where he found that temperament was all too often a substitute for talent, he joined Milwaukee's experimental Theatre X troupe. After touring stateside and throughout Europe with the group, Dafoe moved to New York in 1977, where he joined the avant-garde Wooster Group. Dafoe's 1981 film debut was a decidedly mixed blessing, as it consisted of a minor role in Michael Cimino's disastrous Heaven's Gate . Ultimately, Dafoe's screen time was cut from the film's final release print, saving him the embarrassment of being associated with the film but also making him something of a nonentity. He went on to appear in such films as The Hunger (1983) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) before making his breakthrough in Platoon (1986). His portrayal of the insouciant, pot-smoking Sgt. Elias earned him Hollywood recognition and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.Choosing his projects based on artistic merit rather than box office potential, Dafoe subsequently appeared in a number of widely divergent films, often taking roles that enhanced his reputation as one of the American cinema's most predictably unpredictable actors. After starring as an idealistic FBI agent in Mississippi Burning (1988), he took on one of his most memorable and controversial roles as Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Dafoe then portrayed a paralyzed, tormented Vietnam vet in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), his second collaboration with Oliver Stone. Homicidal tendencies and a mouthful of rotting teeth followed when he played an ex-marine in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), before he got really weird and allowed Madonna to drip hot wax on his naked body in Body of Evidence (1992). Following a turn in Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close in 1993, Dafoe entered the realm of the blockbuster with his role as a mercenary in Clear and Present Danger (1994). That same year, he earned acclaim for his portrayal of T.S. Eliot in Tom and Viv, one of the few roles that didn't paint the actor as a contemporary head case. His appearance as a mysterious, thumbless World War II intelligence agent in The English Patient (1996) followed in a similar vein. In 1998, Dafoe returned to the contemporary milieu, playing an anthropologist in Paul Auster's Lulu on the Bridge and a member of a ragingly dysfunctional family in Paul Schrader's powerful, highly acclaimed Affliction. He then extended his study of dysfunction as a creepy gas station attendant in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999). After chasing a pair of killers claiming to be on a mission from God in The Boondock Saints, Dafoe astounded audiences as he transformed himself into a mirror image of one of the screens most terrfiying vampires in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). A fictional recount of the mystery surrounding F.W. Murnau's 1922 classic Nosferatu, Dafoe's remarkable transformation into the fearsome bloodsucker had filmgoers blood running cold with it's overwhelming creepiness and tortured-soul humor. After turning up as a cop on the heels of a potentially homicidal yuppie in American Psycho that same year, the talented actor would appear in such low-profile releases as The Reconing and Bullfighter (both 2001), before once again thrilling audiences in a major release. As the fearsome Green Goblin in director Sam Raimi's long-ant
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Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
71% | Zack Snyder's Justice League |
|
— | 2021 |
76% | Tommaso |
|
— | 2020 |
14% | Swift (Birds of a Feather) (Manou the Swift) |
|
— | 2020 |
5% | The Last Thing He Wanted |
|
— | 2020 |
83% | My Hindu Friend (Meu amigo Hindu) |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | Sportin' Life |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | The Card Counter |
|
— | 2020 |
63% | Motherless Brooklyn |
|
— | 2019 |
90% | The Lighthouse |
|
— | 2019 |
No Score Yet | El faro |
|
— | 2019 |
86% | Friedkin Uncut |
|
— | 2019 |
97% | Love, Antosha |
|
— | 2019 |
78% | Pasolini |
|
— | 2019 |
80% | Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (Babenco - Alguém tem que ouvrir o coraçã e dizer parou) |
|
— | 2019 |
92% | Togo |
|
— | 2019 |
No Score Yet | Der Leuchtturm |
|
— | 2019 |
65% | Aquaman |
|
— | 2018 |
79% | At Eternity's Gate |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | Van Gogh - Ved evighedens port |
|
— | 2018 |
87% | Mountain |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | Brothers in Arms |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | Brothers in Arms |
|
— | 2018 |
60% | Murder On The Orient Express |
|
$101.6M | 2017 |
96% | The Florida Project |
|
$5.5M | 2017 |
13% | A Family Man |
|
— | 2017 |
50% | Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait |
|
$9.2k | 2017 |
35% | The Great Wall |
|
$45.2M | 2017 |
38% | Death Note |
|
— | 2017 |
59% | What Happened to Monday |
|
— | 2017 |
100% | Do Donkeys Act? |
|
— | 2017 |
42% | Opus Zero |
|
— | 2017 |
50% | Dog Eat Dog |
|
— | 2016 |
94% | Finding Dory |
|
$486.3M | 2016 |
No Score Yet | The Great Wall |
|
— | 2016 |
No Score Yet | Padre |
|
— | 2016 |
No Score Yet | Ojciec |
|
— | 2016 |
86% | John Wick |
|
— | 2014 |
86% | A Most Wanted Man |
|
$14.1M | 2014 |
81% | The Fault In Our Stars |
|
— | 2014 |
No Score Yet | Bad Country |
|
— | 2014 |
60% | Nymphomaniac: Volume II |
|
$0.3M | 2014 |
76% | Nymphomaniac: Volume I |
|
$0.7M | 2014 |
92% | The Grand Budapest Hotel |
|
$57M | 2014 |
38% | Odd Thomas |
|
— | 2014 |
54% | Out of the Furnace |
|
$8.4M | 2013 |
7% | Tomorrow You're Gone |
|
— | 2013 |
72% | The Hunter |
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$0.2M | 2012 |
45% | 4:44 Last Day on Earth |
|
$16.2k | 2012 |
No Score Yet | North On Evers |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | The Jesuit |
|
— | 2012 |
22% | Fireflies in the Garden |
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$37.4k | 2011 |
17% | Miral |
|
$0.4M | 2011 |
No Score Yet | Gauguin: Maker of Myth |
|
— | 2011 |
43% | Gedo senki (Tales from Earthsea) |
|
$48.5k | 2010 |
86% | Farewell (L'affaire Farewell) |
|
$0.4M | 2010 |
69% | Daybreakers |
|
$30.1M | 2010 |
49% | My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done |
|
— | 2010 |
No Score Yet | A Woman |
|
— | 2010 |
93% | Fantastic Mr. Fox |
|
$21.1M | 2009 |
53% | Antichrist |
|
$0.3M | 2009 |
38% | Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant |
|
$13.9M | 2009 |
35% | Adam Resurrected |
|
— | 2008 |
27% | Anamorph |
|
— | 2008 |
53% | The Walker |
|
$43.7k | 2007 |
51% | Mr. Bean's Holiday |
|
$32.6M | 2007 |
86% | Paris Je T'aime |
|
$4.9M | 2007 |
No Score Yet | The Procedure |
|
— | 2007 |
68% | Go Go Tales |
|
— | 2007 |
38% | American Dreamz |
|
$7.2M | 2006 |
86% | Inside Man |
|
$88.5M | 2006 |
50% | Manderlay |
|
— | 2006 |
No Score Yet | Ripley Under Ground |
|
— | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Movies 101 |
|
— | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Before It Had a Name |
|
— | 2005 |
17% | xXx: State of the Union |
|
$26.1M | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Control |
|
— | 2005 |
86% | The Aviator |
|
$102.6M | 2004 |
56% | The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou |
|
$24M | 2004 |
78% | Overnight |
|
— | 2004 |
33% | Rockets Redglare! |
|
— | 2004 |
43% | The Clearing |
|
$5.6M | 2004 |
93% | Spider-Man 2 |
|
$373.4M | 2004 |
39% | The Reckoning |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Spider-Man 2.1 (Extended Cut) |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate |
|
— | 2004 |
66% | Once upon a Time in Mexico |
|
$56M | 2003 |
99% | Finding Nemo |
|
$380.6M | 2003 |
No Score Yet | Bullfighter |
|
— | 2003 |
No Score Yet | Festival Pass with Chris Gore |
|
— | 2002 |
71% | Auto Focus |
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$1.9M | 2002 |
90% | Spider-Man |
|
$403.8M | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Al Borde de la Muerte |
|
— | 2001 |
6% | Pavilion of Women |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon' |
|
— | 2001 |
82% | Shadow of the Vampire |
|
$7.6M | 2000 |
83% | Animal Factory |
|
— | 2000 |
70% | American Psycho |
|
— | 2000 |
28% | The Boondock Saints |
|
— | 1999 |
19% | New Rose Hotel |
|
— | 1999 |
74% | Existenz |
|
— | 1999 |
0% | Lulu on the Bridge |
|
— | 1998 |
4% | Speed 2 - Cruise Control |
|
— | 1997 |
88% | Affliction |
|
— | 1997 |
85% | The English Patient |
|
— | 1996 |
68% | Basquiat |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | The Night and the Moment |
|
— | 1995 |
No Score Yet | Victory |
|
— | 1995 |
31% | Tom & Viv |
|
— | 1994 |
80% | Clear and Present Danger |
|
— | 1994 |
58% | Faraway, So Close! (In weiter Ferne, so nah!) |
|
— | 1993 |
No Score Yet | Fishing With John |
|
— | 1992 |
8% | Body of Evidence |
|
— | 1992 |
44% | White Sands |
|
— | 1992 |
88% | Light Sleeper |
|
— | 1992 |
25% | The Flight of the Intruder |
|
$14.6M | 1991 |
67% | Wild At Heart |
|
— | 1990 |
73% | Cry-Baby |
|
— | 1990 |
85% | Born on the Fourth of July |
|
— | 1989 |
50% | Triumph of the Spirit |
|
— | 1989 |
84% | Mississippi Burning |
|
— | 1988 |
81% | The Last Temptation of Christ |
|
— | 1988 |
50% | Off Limits |
|
— | 1988 |
100% | Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam |
|
— | 1987 |
87% | Platoon |
|
— | 1986 |
91% | To Live and Die in L.A. |
|
— | 1985 |
68% | Streets of Fire |
|
— | 1984 |
No Score Yet | Roadhouse 66 |
|
— | 1984 |
No Score Yet | New York Nights |
|
— | 1984 |
55% | The Hunger |
|
— | 1983 |
73% | Vida Sin Rumbo |
|
— | 1983 |
59% | Heaven's Gate |
|
— | 1980 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
Inside the Actors Studio
1994-2019
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Late Night With Seth Meyers
2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Sunday Morning
2011-2018
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2015-2019
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Late Late Show With James Corden
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Last Call With Carson Daly
2007-2019
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Tavis Smiley
2013-2018
|
|
|
85% |
The Simpsons
1989
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Colbert Report
2005-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Charlie Rose
2013-2017
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Experience
1988
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
2009-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
1999-2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno
1992-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Hitchhiker
1983-1991
|
|
|
Quotes from Willem Dafoe's Characters
Dr. Mendel Stromm: | We need to take the whole line back to formula. |
Green Goblin/Norman Osborn: | Back to formula? |
Van Houten: | Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you care so much about your silly questions? |
Hazel: | Oh, go fuck yourself. |
Bud Carter: | Your looking at life to 200 years. |
Jesse Weiland: | 200 years? I can do that standing on my head. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | I've been like a father to you. Be a son to me. |
Peter Parker/Spider-Man: | I have a father. His name was Ben Parker. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | God's speed, Spiderman. |
Van Houten: | The important thing is not what nonsense the voices are saying... but what the voices are feeling. |
Van Houten: | You are a side effect of an evolutionary process that cares little for individual lives. You are a failed experiment in mutation. |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | We're the folks with the crossbows |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | We're the folks with the crossbows. |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | Day time driving man nothing beats it no traffic no cops trouble is if you ain't carefully you can get yourself one hell of a sunburn |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | Day time driving man nothing beats it no traffic no cops trouble is if you ain't carefully you can get yourself one hell of a sunburn. |
Bobby Peru: | Bobby Peru, just like the country. |
Cisco: | The World's going to end |
Cisco: | The world's going to end. |
Tina: | Let's get some Vietnamese food. So yummy! |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | Being human in a world full of vampires is about as safe as barebacking a five dollar whore. |
Dr. Miles Copeland: | Your only alive because of me, so why don't you answer the question. |
Lee Ray Oliver: | I'm everything you hate in the world, huh Doc? |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, down came the goblin, and took the spider out. |
Tars Tarkas: | Did I not tell you he could jump! |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | We're the guys with the crossbows |
Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac: | We're the guys with the crossbows. |
Bobby Peru: | It`s full of dummies...dummy! |
Bobby Peru: | It`s full of dummies, dummy! |
Tars Tarkas: | Mars. So you name it and think that you know it. The red planet, no air, no life. But you do not know Mars, for its true name is Barsoom. And it is not airless, nor is it dead, but it is dying. The city of Zodanga saw to that. |
Martin: | I wish I was half the man my father was and half the father you deserve. |
Martin: | For heaven's sake, we're actors, not judges. |
Nicholas: | That's exactly what we have become. |
Jack Flint: | Who dares play things that happen in this world? |
Tobias: | It was just a question o time. |
Tobias: | It was just a question of time. |
Martin: | But this is the way plays will be made in times to come. |
Grace's Father: | When push comes to shove, you've made everything worse, like you did with Tweety. |
Donald Kimball: | Do you remember where you were the night of Paul's disappearance, which was on the 20th of December? |
Patrick Bateman: | God....I guess I was probably returning videotapes. |
Patrick Bateman: | God... I guess I was probably returning videotapes. |
Rat: | That's my job! |
He: | Exposure. That's the only thing that works. Everything else is just talk. You have to have to courage to stay in the situation that frightens. And then you'll learn that fear isn't dangerous. |
He: | Acorns don't cry, you know that as well as I do. That's what fear is, thoughts distort reality. Not the other way around. |
Patrick Bateman: | Am I being cross examined? |
Donald Kimball: | Do you feel like you are? |
Patrick Bateman: | No I Dont. |
Patrick Bateman: | No I dont. |
Patrick Bateman: | No I don't. |
Norman Osborne/Green Goblin: | (throws new spinning pumpkin blades) |
Norman Osborne/Green Goblin: | [throws new spinning pumpkin blades] |
Peter Parker/Spider-Man: | God, I hate those things!!! |
Peter Parker/Spider-Man: | God, I hate those things! |
Green Goblin/Norman Osborn: | [To Harry Osbourn] Now you know the truth about Peter, Avenge me... AVENGE ME! |
Harry Osborn: | Out, am I? |
Green Goblin/Norman Osborn: | Out, am I? |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | No one says no to me! |
Martin: | What you want you will never get. It is gone forever now. |
Chris Taylor: | ''Hey I will go with you'' |
Chris Taylor: | Hey I will go with you. |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | ''no I move faster when i'm alone |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | No I move faster when I'm alone. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | The little spider went up the water spout then came the Goblin to take the spider out! |
Lucy: | Jarrah thought that someone was following him |
Lucy: | Jarrah thought that someone was following him. |
Martin: | Who? |
Sass: | Are you looking for my dad? |
Martin: | No. |
Sass: | But if you see him, you'll tell him to come home? |
Martin: | Where is your father? |
Sass: | Up there. |
Tars Tarkas: | Sola, are you mad? |
Sola: | No. The blood of my father drives me. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Despite of everything you've done for them, eventuelly they will hate you. |
Lucy: | You washed me. |
Martin: | The children helped. |
FW. Murnau: | Why him, you monster? Why not the... script girl? |
Max Schreck: | Oh. The script girl. I'll eat her later. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | We are who we choose to be... Now choose! |
Martin: | She eats the heart first. |
Martin: | I'd like to go on alone. |
Tars Tarkas: | You are ugly, but you are beautiful. |
Tars Tarkas: | VIRGINIA!! |
Jesus Christ: | I want God to hate me. |
Paul Smecker: | Now, you Irish cops are perking up. That's two sound theories in one day, neither of which deal with abnormally sized men. Kind of makes me feel like Riverdancing. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | You're pathetically predictable, like a moth to the flame. What about my generous proposal? Are you in or are you out? |
Peter Parker/Spider-Man: | It's you who's out, Gobbie. Out of your mind. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Wrong answer. |
Gill: | I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going get him out of here. We're going to help him escape! |
Nemo the Clownfish: | Escape! Really? |
Gill: | Yeah we're all going to escape! |
Gurgle: | Gill, please! Not another one of your escape plans. |
Deb and Flo: | Sorry, but they just don't work. |
Bloat: | Yeah what makes this any difference? |
Tars Tarkas: | You are Ugly but you are beautiful! |
Tars Tarkas: | VIRGINA! |
Tars Tarkas: | VIRGINIA! |
John Carter: | NO!...John Carter from Virgina! |
John Carter: | NO!...John Carter from Virginia! |
Tars Tarkas: | Did I not tell you he can jump? |
Tars Tarkas: | You are ugly, but you are beautiful. HE WILL FIGHT FOR US! |
Tars Tarkas: | When I saw you, I believed it was a sign--that something new could come into this world |
Tars Tarkas: | When I saw you, I believed it was a sign--that something new could come into this world. |
Tars Tarkas: | Did I not tell you he could jump! |
Tars Tarkas: | You are ugly, but you are beautiful. HE WILL FIGHT FOR US! |
Klaus Daimler: | Who the shit is Kingsley Zissou? |
He: | The thoughts distort reality, not the other way around. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | You are incredibly predictable like a moth to a flame. What about my generous preposal are you in or are you out? |
Peter Parker/Spider-Man: | Its you who's out gobby out of mind. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Wrong answer. |
Peter Parker/Spider-Man: | Oh, great. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | "God's speed Spider-man!" |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | God's speed Spider-man! |
Tars Tarkas: | When I saw you, I believed that something new, could come into this world. |
Mr. Fox: | You've aged badly, Rat. |
Rat: | You gettin' a little long-in-the-tooth yourself, partner. |
Paul Smecker: | AAARGH! THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT! |
Paul Smecker: | There was a firefight! |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Peter, don't tell Harry. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Peter, don't tell Harry |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | I love this place at night. The stars... there's no right or wrong in them. They're just there. |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | I love this place at night. The stars ...there's no right or wrong in them, they're just there. |
Young Michael Taylor: | Get away from her. |
Charles Taylor: | Who are you, Mommy's little protector? [grabs the baseball bat from Michael's grasp] |
Eric Masters: | You're beautiful. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | So am I out? |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | (To Mary Jane) Hello beauty. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | [to Mary Jane) Hello beauty. |
He: | Is there any woods in particular?*pause* |
He: | Is there any woods in particular? [pause] |
She: | *pause*Eden. |
She: | Eden. |
He: | Grief is not a disease. It's a natural healthy reaction. |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | now that youve just really pisted me off im gonna finsh her nice and slow |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | If you had not been so selfish, your little girlfriend's death would have been quick and painless, but now that you've really pissed me off, I'm gonna finish her nice and slow. |
Aunt May: | Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us.... |
Aunt May: | Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us... [the Green Goblin bursts through the window] |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Hahaha! |
Aunt May: | [screams] DELIVER US! |
Aunt May: | DELIVER US! |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | [laughing maniacally] Finish it. FINISH IT! |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Finish it. FINISH IT! |
Aunt May: | FROM EVIL! |
Aunt May: | FROM EVIL! |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | A word to the "not-so-wise" about your little girlfriend. Do what you need to with her, then broom her fast! |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | A word to the 'not-so-wise' about your little girlfriend. Do what you need to with her, then broom her fast! |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Do you know how much I sacrificed!?!? |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Do you know how much I sacrificed!? |
Paul Smecker: | I'm an expert in nameology. |
Paul Smecker: | Yeah, well, I'm an expert in... nameology! |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | Barnes believes in what he's doing. |
Chris Taylor: | And you? |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | Back in '65? Yeah. Now, no. What happened today is just the beginning. We're gonna lose this war. |
Chris Taylor: | Come on! You really think so? Us? |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | We've been kicking other peoples asses for so long I figured it's time we got ours kicked |
Sgt. Elias Grodin: | We've been kicking other peoples asses for so long I figured it's time we got ours kicked. |
Rat: | Y'all are trespassing now...illegally. |
Rat: | Y'all are trespassing now, illegally. |
Klaus Daimler: | Who the shit is Kingsley Zissou? |
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: | Sorry I'm late. Work was murder. |
He: | What do you think is supposed to happen in the woods? |
Eric Masters: | You're beautiful. |