Now we know…
Willem Dafoe earned his third Oscar nomination (for his supporting role in The Florida Project) earlier in the week and was on The Last Show with Stephen Colbert last night to chat about the feat.
At one point, the conversation turned to something Colbert had started asking Dafoe about backstage and now wanted to press him about – where did he get the name Willem?
It turns out that Willem is actually called William, as is his father. Not wanting to be called William Jr. or Billy, he experimented with different nicknames until a friend started calling him Willem, and it stuck. “I just stuck with the name that I felt like,” he concludes.
The host and actor also talked about Dafoe’s hilarious facial expression from the Golden Globes after Seth Meyers mentioned him in his opening monologue. They also discussed what it’s like being the younger siblings in a big family.