Four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe is set to team up once more with Brazil’s Bárbara Paz in near-future drama, “Cuddle,” Paz’s fiction feature debut.
Dafoe was an associate producer of the documentary “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” (2019), which Paz directed as an ode to her late husband, Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Hector Babenco (“Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Carándiru”) and which represented Brazil at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Dafoe’s ties to Paz and Babenco began with “My Hindu Friend,” Babenco’s semi-autobiographical 2015 swan song, in which Dafoe portrayed a dying filmmaker closely modeled after Babenco himself and Paz played a small but pivotal role.
In “Cuddle,” Dafoe plays Dante, a professional cuddler who offers platonic comfort to strangers craving connection. His clients range from the overwhelmed to the emotionally fragile, people searching for human touch in a world where affection has become rare and transactional. Behind his calm exterior, Dante struggles with a painkiller habit and a lonely existence, softened only by the quiet company of his dog. But when a surprising encounter disrupts his routine, it opens the door to a fragile and unexpected kind of intimacy.
“Beyond an exploration of loneliness, the need for human touch and conquering challenges, this story captures the zeitgeist of our times,” said Dafoe, who added that he very much looked forward to working with Paz again.
To add to the Oscar pedigree of the project, Brazil’s Conspiração, behind the recent Best International Feature Oscar winner “I’m Still Here,” joins Infinity Hill, producer of the Academy Award-nominated “Argentina, 1985,” as co-producers alongside Paz’s company, BP.
“Cuddle” marks the first time that Infinity Hill has collaborated with Conspiração, but it’s their second co-production with Brazil, after “Puan.”
Inspired by the growing real-world phenomenon of cuddle therapy and the intensifying global dialogue on loneliness, “Cuddle” is described by its producers as “a poignant exploration of touch, vulnerability and connection in an emotionally disconnected age.”
The drama is produced by Renata Brandão and Juliana Capelini for Conspiração, Axel Kuschevatzky, Phin Glynn and Cindy Teperman for Infinity Hill and Paz for BP.
Dafoe will next appear in Kent Jones’ “Late Fame; The Phoenician Scheme,” his sixth collaboration with Wes Anderson; Nadia Latif’s “The Man in My Basement”; Miguel Angel Jimenéz’s “The Birthday Party”; Patricia Arquette’s “Gonzo Girl”; and Saverio Costanzo’s “Finally Dawn.”
He is currently filming Jennifer Peedom’s “Tenzing” and recently signed on to star in “The Souffleur,” an English-language dark comedy helmed by rising Argentine director Gastón Solnicki. He also currently holds the position of artistic director of Theater for the Venice Biennale.
Dafoe is repped at The Artists Partnership in the U.K. as well as WME in the U.S., and Circle Management + Production.
variety.com
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