"Hey Mr. Dafoe, want to be in this new movie I'm working on?"
I assume Willem is totally nude in this scene FYI "Fuck off! I'm too busy trying to think of ways to scare children in their sleep!"
"Hear me out Mr. Dafoe, you get to play an insane lighthouse keeper who torments Robert Pattinson."
"Do I get to show people my penis?"
"Yes. Are you interested?"
"I was born to play this part..."
A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER...
"Hey Mr. Dafoe I got another movie project for you."
still nude "What is it this time Robert?"
"You play a court jester to a Viking King who's also a Norse Shaman who does hallucinogenics in a cave while making the king act like a dog."
"..."
"You interested?"
"You know me too well Robert."
I think Eggers struggled a little to keep the movie tight since this is the first time he's making anything of this scope. His first two movies both had casts of less than 10 people and were both set primarily in one location. Now he tried to do a film with a cast of a number of primary and side characters that takes place in several locations (even if the bulk of the main plot revolves around one location) and with a much grander story. I still think his cinematography, dialog writing, and casting are on fucking point, the film is wonderful aesthetically. Narrative wise it has moments where it drags a bit, and characters sometimes do shit that doesn't totally make sense.