If you happened to see the posters for Focus Features’ upcoming film Inside, you might have been perplexed. The images feature a pigeon, a rotten orange, and a can of food, with the caption above reading “This is not Willem Dafoe”. Dafoe being the star of the movie, this is weird, and suggests the movie will be, as well. I’m not sure “weird” is the way it can be described now that the first trailer has been released, though.
Dafoe stars as an unfortunate art thief named Nemo. After a crime, he finds himself trapped inside a high-tech apartment with no way out and nothing to help him but his own wits and the paintings he tried to steal. What unfolds is an intense psychological struggle, the kind that Dafoe is so good at bringing to life.
So it doesn’t actually look weird at all.
The film marks the feature debut of Vasilis Katsoupis, from a script by Ben Hopkins. This looks to be a Dafoe solo show, and I can scarcely think of an actor capable of holding out attention for the duration.
Inside will be released on March 10th 2023.