(Rome) Actor Willem Dafoe, a regular on the red carpet of the Venice Film Festival, was appointed on Monday artistic director of the theater department of the Venice Biennale.
Mr Dafoe, who lives near Rome with his Italian wife, said the appointment came as a surprise but that he was “born into theatre” and first trained as an actor on stage.
In a statement released by the Biennale, he said the programme for his two-year term 2025-2026 would follow his own development, “a kind of exploration of the essence of the body”.
Mr. Dafoe co-founded the New York theater company The Wooster Group in 1977 and performed with it for about 20 years. He is best known for his film career, notably as a scientist opposite Emma Stone’s Bella in Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year.
He is expected at the Lido this summer with the distribution of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice by Tim Burton who opens the festival.
La Biennale Teatro is an independent department of La Biennale, founded in 1934.