The Reason Willem Dafoe Needed A Body Double On Antichrist Might Surprise You

Lars von Trier's 2009 film "Antichrist" is a dour-hearted romp through the foul trenches of human depression. The first part of an unofficial Depression Trilogy (which also includes 2011's "Melancholia" and 2013's "Nymphomaniac"), "Antichrist" is about a couple (Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe) who, while engaged in a bout of shower coitus, miss that their five-year-old son has accidentally fallen out of their apartment window and died. Their child's death throws "She" (the characters are unnamed) into a bout of suicidal depression. "He," being a therapist, elects to take her to their cabin in the woods for a therapeutic retreat.

The cabin in the woods bears a closer resemblance to the setting of "The Evil Dead" than a warm, woodsy retreat. In it, they both lose themselves to misery, and She eventually explodes into torture and sexual violence that takes a very, very strong constitution to witness.

Because sex and sexuality are such pervasive themes of "Antichrist," and because so much of the drama comes from the two leads' sexual relationship to one another, a good deal of nudity was required from both actors. One of the first shots of "Antichrist" is a closeup of sexual penetration, shot in black and white, and projected in super slow-motion. The body parts in question, as one might assume, did not belong to Gainsbourg or Dafoe, both having used body doubles. (It's worth noting that von Trier once oversaw his own adult film studio, which had its own manifesto of ethics.) Dafoe in particular required a body double throughout as — and there's no genteel way to put this — his penis was too large.

In a 2009 interview with Daze, Dafoe talked about requiring a body double, acknowledging that his own body might have started the wrong kind of conversation about the movie.

Dafoe described his body as it might have appeared in "Antichrist" with gentle candor:

"No, it's not mine. Lars used a porn actor for those scenes. It was a good decision because, if it was me, then that's all that people would talk about. Obviously Lars wants the characters to have genitals, but it would become a distraction: 'Oh, they really had sex!' If he had asked me to do it, I don't know what I would have said."

Dafoe also pointed out in the same interview that Dafoe and Gainsbourg are both married, and having unsimulated sex on camera would perhaps bring up sticky questions about fidelity.

Lars von Trier, as one might imagine, was far more brash when discussing the practical details of the sex scenes in "Antichrist," bringing up Dafoe's anatomy immediately. In a 2009 interview with The Boston Phoenix, the filmmaker simply said it out loud:

"As for Dafoe, I wouldn't let him treat her in any other way than with his d***; he has an enormous d***. We had to take those scenes out of the film. We had a stand-in for him because we had to take the scenes out with his own d***.

From there, von Trier continued to elucidate, saying that the scene required a body double "because Will's was too big." The interviewer, amused, asked if it was too big to fit onto the big screen. "No," von Trier clarified. "Too big because everybody got very confused when they saw it." It was too big, it seems, to fit into the human imagination.

Dafoe is easily one of the best actors of his generation, deftly playing complex, dark, intense characters with humanity and aplomb. His recent collaborations with director Abel Ferrara are as rewarding a cinematic relationship as any an actor has had with a director. Despite this, talk of his genitals have continued to circulate, leading to an interview with Simon Hattenstone wherein he was asked point-blank if he had the biggest penis in Hollywood. "I don't really work in Hollywood anymore," Dafoe coyly answered (via Vulture).

In a 2018 interview with IMDb, Dafoe revealed that his nude scene in Martin Scorsese's 1988 film "The Last Temptation of Christ" was also awkward to film. In that film's inevitable crucifixion sequence, Christ (Dafoe) is nude on the cross. Contrary to the common Roman Catholic depiction, however, he's crucified with his knees bent off to the side in Scorsese's film, requiring some, uh, special physical arrangements. From that interview:

"It took a lot to get me on the cross. Once I got up there, I could only be up there for so long because you're in this isometric where you're [in a crucified position]. I'm also naked. They're shooting a very wide shot, and I'm like this for a while."

But then, an uncovered body part became visible. With his hands bound, it was up to others to hide the offending part:

"There's only all these Roman stuntmen, real macho guys. And they're like, 'I'm not touching that thing.' Finally, a very sweet guy from the costume department gets a little ladder and goes up there and tucks it in, and we were good to go."

"Antichrist" is currently available on The Criterion Channel. Dafoe's unit has become so notorious, and its appearance in "Antichrist" so memorable, that a rock formation in Wyoming — notable for its climbing — has been nicknamed Willem Dafoe's Blood Penis.