Two-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe is regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, but asking him to select a favourite performance from his varied repertoire is like asking him to choose a favourite child. He just can't do it.
"No, no," he answers emphatically.
"No, and even if I could I wouldn't tell you."
For Dafoe, it's clear variety is the spice of his filmmaking life.
"I seek it out. I think it's the only way to stay healthy artistically," he says.
But after transforming into the former vampire Elvis for the Brisbane-based Daybreakers shoot, lending his voice to Gill the fish for Finding Nemo and now playing a mercenary on the hunt for the last surviving tasmanian tiger, it’s safe to assume this Hollywood A-lister has a soft spot for Aussie projects.
"Australian crews are great," Dafoe tells ABC News Online.
"I mean in general, but particularly where you are really tested in very tough environments. They're like tough pirates, [they] go back to seafaring stock or something."
And that raw physicality certainly was needed on the set of The Hunter, a new psychological thriller based on Julia Leigh's acclaimed novel of the same name.
Dafoe plays Martin David, a lone hunter sent high into the rugged Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech firm to track down what is believed to be the last known 'tiger' in existence.
The entire shoot took place on the Apple Isle - unexpected snow storms and mind-numbingly cold sunrise and sunset shoots were just all part of a day’s work. But despite the extreme conditions, shooting anywhere else would have taken away from the film's realism, says an undeterred Dafoe.
"Clearly if they said that I was going to be shooting this in another part of Australia or that we were going to be doing studio work, that wouldn't have interested me. I mean because that (shooting on location) was very important to root the production," he says.
"And it's nice when you can match the life adventure to the adventure of the movie."
A method actor by trade, self-confessed urbanite Dafoe insisted on perfecting the survivalist skills his character demonstrates in the film. There were no stunt doubles waiting in the wings.
"They were very good at getting me in touch with a bushcraft guy, a guy that could teach me how to make snares and teach me how to descent myself, tell me what a wallaby run looks like, tell me how wallabies behave, tell me how various animals behave when they're active," Dafoe says.
"Just learning hunter things, wilderness things, that was very helpful and essential, because I do those things in the movie. You know, when you're filming you have to have some sort of confidence and grace."
Whether Dafoe's hunter finds what he's looking for is a question the actor leaves hanging.
In reality, it is believed the tasmanian tiger was hunted to extinction by Australian settlers. The last known living animal died at the Hobart Zoo in 1936.
The ongoing struggle between loggers and environmentalists in Tasmania features as a subplot in the film, and it's a theme that resonates with Dafoe.
"I don't like to be a little smarty pants American, coming here, weighing in on issues," he says.
"But it's interesting because where I grew up, I grew up in a paper mill town as a kid ... like you know where you see on toilet boxes 'Kimberly-Clark', I grew up very near the Kimberly-Clark mills in Wisconsin. So I grew up with a logging culture, but I also grew up around forests, so I've always been aware of the jobs versus environment struggle.
"And although the film doesn't take sides, I think you are taking sides when you showcase beautiful wilderness. It takes an idiot to not want to preserve that."
And it seems the spectacular scenery, combined with strong performances from Dafoe and co-stars Frances O'Connor and Sam Neill, is already resonating with people from across the globe.
The film recently had a fruitful premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, securing strong international sales in markets like Canada, Britain and the Middle East ahead of its domestic release this week.
"You know, you hate to blow your own horn but it was a very good screening (in Toronto) ... and the film sold very well," says Dafoe.
"So it will pretty much get distributed all over the world, which is not something to be taken for granted for an Australian movie.
"And it's kind of beautiful that it's a very Australian movie in its themes, but deeply it has so many universal themes that an international audience will appreciate."
The Hunter is in cinemas today.
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