Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe plays Gerhard Hardman in Murder on the Orient Express. The arrogant professor annoying his fellow travellers almost immediately. Branagh turned to Dafoe to play this character, describing him as having a “knack of making unlikeable people likable.” Dafoe describes Hardman as “a man that expresses opinions that are often offensive to some of the other passengers, because he's very aware of place and hierarchy and race. Given that it's 1934, in Europe, he's quite buttoned-down, quite a serious guy, and someone to watch.”

Willem Dafoe is a two-time Academy Award® nominee who has performed in over 100 films including Spider-Man, The English Patient, Finding Nemo, Clear and Present Dangerand Mississippi Burning. In addition to his Oscar® nominations for Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe is Golden Globe® nominee for his performance in Shadow of the Vampire which also earned him a LA Film Critics Award and an Independent Spirit Award.

Dafoe is a founding member of The Wooster Group, an experimental theatre collective in which he created and performed in all of the group's work from 1977 to 2005. Dafoe selects projects based on the diversity of roles and opportunities to work with strong directors such as Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee.

Willem Dafoe talks about Murder on the Orient Express saying:

Murder on the Orient Express is so well known that it is more a “howdunnit” than a “whodunnit”. This screenplay is beautifully witty with an edge of moral dilemma, and has delicious deceptions and surprises

Willem Dafoe