These days, celebrities only talk sh-t about other celebrities maybe once a year. Sometimes, it’s some older actor or musical legend who wants to blast all of his or her contemporaries or the younger people. Sometimes, it’s someone too stupid to understand that they’re hurting their career by talking sh-t. And sometimes, it’s just someone who doesn’t give a f–k. That’s what we have here. Stephen Dorff was once considered one of the most promising talents of his generation, a generation which included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, etc. Dorff had that watchable bad-boy quality on-screen, and he was legitimately a good actor. Now he’s… more like on a friendly side of “has-been.” He still works, and that’s why he gave this interview to the Independent – he’s promoting a movie called Embattled, plus I guess the UK is only now getting the third season of True Detective? But in general, his CV is littered with WTFery and odd career moments. But that’s on purpose, according to Dorff. Because God help him if he had to spend time on some movie like Black Widow. Some highlights from this interview:
On this year’s Oscars: “This year’s Oscars were the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen. My business is becoming a big game show. You have actors that don’t have a clue what they’re doing. You have filmmakers that don’t have a clue what they’re doing. We’re all in these little boxes on these streamers. TV, film – it’s all one big clusterf**k of content now.”
Black Widow is embarrassing: “I still hunt out the good s**t because I don’t want to be in Black Widow. It looks like garbage to me. It looks like a bad video game. I’m embarrassed for those people. I’m embarrassed for Scarlett! I’m sure she got paid five, seven million bucks, but I’m embarrassed for her. I don’t want to be in those movies. I really don’t. I’ll find that kid director that’s gonna be the next Kubrick and I’ll act for him instead.”
He’s 47 and free: “I don’t have a family yet and I don’t have five ex-wives that I have to pay for. I pretty much still only have me to deal with.”
His weird CV: “I don’t like playing things too safe. To me, Hollywood’s always too safe. When I’ve needed money, sure, I’ve done a couple of weeks on a movie that I didn’t wanna do. See, I like money too, because I like to buy things and I like art and real estate.”
He said no to other projects to work with John Waters: He remembers his agents wanting him to do “some sh*tty movie” he doesn’t remember, and choosing to do Cecil B DeMented instead. “Why wouldn’t I do a John Waters movie? The other movie sucks! They’re like, well, it’s not gonna do anything for your career or money-wise. But I’m gonna go to Cannes and we’re gonna have a standing ovation, and kids around the world, art students and John Waters fans are going to worship this f**king movie, which they do to this day. Why wouldn’t I do that? So I fired those agents.”
Most people think he’s closest to his Somewhere character in real life: “I think most of the films that I do tend to be edgier. But Sofia [Coppola] saw something in me. Look, I’m not – in my personal life, I’m pretty funny, and I’m pretty light. I don’t walk around like some of my dramatic actor friends. They seem tortured all the time – I don’t! I’m not gonna sit here and say how sweet I am, but I’ve always felt like I’m pretty genuine. I’m not a bulls***ter. I’ve never really been a fan of that. I can read people in two minutes, whether I like them, or if I think they’re smart or I think they’re f***ing idiots. I have a very good radar for that.”
Loss: His recent run of strong roles – Embattled, the acclaimed third season of True Detective and the experimental country music drama Wheeler – all came about on the heels of the death of his brother, songwriter Andrew Dorff. “I get all these gifts after I lose people and it kind of sucks,” he says, as if he’s still confused by the timings of it all. “I was in a terrible place when I lost my little brother. I didn’t really want to act any more. But then all these nice things started happening. I don’t know if that’s because of the gods or what.”
I’m sure some people will be like “if an actress did this, she wouldn’t have a career anymore!” Maybe/probably. But I’ll ask: do you think that Dorff would be saying any of this if he really gave a sh-t about “not pissing off Kevin Feige” or “not pissing off Steven Spielberg”? Dorff DGAF. Dorff isn’t going to issue a statement in a few days saying that he was misunderstood or misquoted. He talked sh-t with his whole chest! And I do appreciate that. Perhaps because I agree with him on most stuff – the Oscars this year suuuuucked. And Black Widow looks like a dumb video game. Also: he tried doing an episodic network drama last year on Fox’s Deputy, but it was cancelled. He has no corporate overlord at the moment! He is free to talk sh-t.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Oh, we knew you were single, Steven.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL yes!! exactly
“I don’t have five ex wives I need to pay for’
hes very good at telling us hes an ass without saying hes an ass
I bet he tells women he wants to sleep with that line about being very good at reading people within 2 minutes so they feel flattered that he wants to talk to them
Right? Screams f*ckboy to me. The tortured artistic type faaaar up his own arse.
He was SO HOT in the Blade era. But now? No. Washed up, pompous, self-important.
You weren’t offered Black Widow, mate. And nice of you to pick out one of the only two female-led marvel films in a sea of Dude-led ones. Note that he doesn’t criticise RDJ for taking the money and making video game films.
Also note that his future Kubrick is, of course, a dude. Who are these future Kubricks who are dying to work with him? I’d love to know!
LOL.
+1 RDJ is backstroking in cash but nah, call out ScarJo. I have nothing for contempt for the way Kubrick treated women and women’s bodies in his films.
The dude is a gift to a project who needs the conflicted bad boy who has such a watchable face.
+ 1 re him holding his fire on 95% of the Marvel films that are male-led but feeling the need to share his pronouncements on one of the two female led films.
Totally. +1. Thank you.
@Hyrule Castle and @SKF: No Lies Detected!
I get the funk of misogyny coming off him. It just so happens a woman (Chloé Zhao) wins best director when he says they have filmmakers at the Oscars that “don’t know what they are doing”? And then he targets Scarlett too?
I am so over men who think being an asshole somehow makes them deep or artistic.
Kubrick was a trashcan of a human being and so overrated, wow. Of course it’s a dude.
Yeah, does someone who was in Blade really get to throw self-important stones???
Kubrick was…not a nice guy to work with, even indirectly. One does not have fond memories of that experience. 🤮🤮 And his early stuff under the studio system was really his best work.
+1 we already knew, Steven!
LOL. He’s embarrassed for Scarlet? That’s rich. I’m embarrassed for him with every word I read. Sure, he doesn’t want 5-7 million dollar role.
I imagine she made way more than $5-7 million!
Not gonna lie, as a Marvel stan, I’m not super excited about Black Widow. I’m sure it’ll be a decent movie, but it’s about 5 years too late and feels like fan service/an “Sorry we forgot about the women!” apology.
Ditto. But for me it’s especially because this serves as an introduction of the new Black Widow and,idk, I’m still attached to the old gang *sighs*.
Marvel stan here too. It does feel late, but at the same time promising for Stage 4, introduction of Yelena. Plus another superhero movie directed by a woman with female leads (even if they’re apparently-from what I’ve seen in trailers- trying to get out from under yet another man)
@HeatherC
They didn’t forget about the women, Perlmutter and co. wouldn’t greenlight any films with PoC and women leads. Once Feige ousted their influence we got Black Panther and Captain Marvel, and unfortunately, yes, a too late Black Widow.
+3. Black Widow deserved a movie way before. I’m not mega excited, but I believe it’s pretty decent and that Scarlett deserved after playing this character in such a good way for a decade.
15 million+
He was so off, lol.
That wasn’t accidental either. He demeans and devalues her with deliberate “jabs”
He’s ALWAYS thought he was too good for everyone and everything. He has ALWAYS fancied himself a Christian Slater/Johnny Depp
He’s an…a$$
I’m kind of the same way. I think I would have been more psyched for it had it been released before …
(spoiler alert … has anyone not seen, heard what went down in Infinity War/Endgame?)
… TPTB had her fall to her death off a cliff … so that Hawkeye … yes Hawkeye! * such a hero and a powerful symbol of representation for white dude archers with bad haircuts everywhere* /s doesn’t have to die.
(And, insult to injury a) the final shot of her dead and akimbo at the base of the cliff was almost the same as the final shot of OG Gamora dead and akimbo at the base of the same cliff. So, they took the time to remind us that they killed off 2 of the leading female characters in two of their biggest franchise
and b) Ironman got a whole funeral, but Nat got … a conversation, and a bench thrown across a pond?
Endgame didn’t happen…Endgame didn’t happen…Endgame didn’t happen…
It was because he had a *family* cough cough. Even though he channeled his grief by straight-up murdering people for five years while Nat tried to keep the world together.
Sure, Jan.
No it wasn’t because he had a family. It was originally written that Barton would die. One of the female producers convinced the writers that it would be better if it were Natasha so they changed it. Her thinking was that it would complete her arc to sacrifice herself to save her family (the Avengers) rather than Clint who was acting out of guilt.
I’m not overly excited about this movie either but mainly because I’ve never loved ScarJo in this role. Dorff is being ridiculous though. She’s parlayed this role into a career most would love to have, with a combination of box office draws and art house fare . It’d probably be even better if she made better choices and didn’t keep sticking her foot in her mouth.
Marvel isn’t hurting the movie industry. The industry was already hurting when Marvel came along and decided to do something different from everyone else. Something that got people in a post-9/11, recessed economy world to spend money at the theater. It’s not the reason Scorsese’s movie ended up on Netflix. Netflix is the reason for that.
I don’t know who he is but he seems like he would be fun at parties… not.
You guys, I have a soft spot for him. I remember “The Gate” (1987, look it up) from when I was a little kid and yeah, I have a soft spot for the Dorff.
I have a bit of a soft spot too. I remember a movie he did years ago with Reese Witherspoon called SFW. I thought it was a cool movie and he was good really good in it.
I’m a bit indifferent to the Marvel movies. Good but passable for me lol.
I was coming here to say the same thing. I’ve always had a soft spot for him. That’s my time consuming Gen X culture during my coming of age, I suppose. I remember a friend of mine swooned so hard for him in high school. I don’t think he was wrong here, but yeah, he probably shouldn’t have SAID it.
My friend fell for him when we were in 7th or 8th grade
He was on Roseanne and just so cute
This was 1989 probably
Anyway she wrote him a fan letter
And she got a signed picture back 😆
My friend would have died! Funny to think of him as a teenage heartthrob type now.
Aaaand this is why he never made it big time.
Hee. Funny how that works. You see an old Law and Order and wonder what happened to that hot suspect or cute cop. Then an interview like this comes along…🤣😈🙄
I read the book about the making of Dazed and Confused and there was a young actor in that who believed his own publicity about being the next Brando/Dean whatever and became difficult on set. Mila Jovovich got all caught up in his personal ‘charisma’ and drama and it affected both of their presences on screen in that they got cut increasingly out of it. Their scenes were either abandoned or given to other actors. And the guy who was in the film as a newcomer who brought the goods was McConaughey and he’s the one who became the next big thing.
This actor is making a lot of noise when his career hasn’t been as strong.
I’ve read the synopsis to Black Widow and it sounds really good and is getting good early reviews.
That said, why do we still continue to give white men so much time and attention especially since he has NOTHING to do with this film?
Nor has he seen anything beyond the trailers.
I liked him in the Power of One. Which I watched with a white South African. Who tried to claim that racial violence in Apartheid South Africa was exaggerated. While he had overstayed his visa because he didn’t want to go back to South Africa because of the racism.
Ah, I remember that movie. We had to watch it in my high school freshman year religion class (Catholic school). I still remember being so very shocked when the redheaded girlfriend got hit with that baton and died.
I gotta laugh when actors act like they have some noble pursuit of a higher art by not doing streaming, not working on Marvel moves etc. Give them 5 years then quote this back to them and see how it aged. Even Leo is doing tv/streaming now, that’s the future of the medium!
He’s awfully salty for a guy I pretty much only recognize from those awful Aerosmith videos. Asserting yourself as an artist doesn’t mean trashing other people and their work, even if you (and I) don’t care for those other actors or their work. You want to explain what matters to you when making career decisions, fine. You want to lay out the criteria that a project needs to meet before you consider it good, also fine. But this ‘Im an artist. I art. I’m the real deal’ schtick? It is unnecessary imo. I’m sure no one in the industry really cares what Dorff thinks of their career choices – and if you want things to be better, come to the table with constructive ideas.
Ya, he’s a little salt shaker
Normally I’d say he should sit down and shut up but Scarlett capes for a child rapist so I don’t care this time.
I liked him in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. That’s about it.
This. She should be embarrassed.
I hate people who talk shit on everything and everybody because they are “edgy” or cool.
Surely he doesn’t have embarrassing films, huh?
I bet Scarlett is laughing, sitting on her millions.
Agree with this 100%
💯 totally agree
I mean, all the crap movies that men have done, but sure, pick a film starring a woman. Try punching up, Dorff. Are you mad that a woman made a lot of money?
For a guy who DGAF, he seems to have a problem with embarrassment.
Some mother—-ers are always trying to ice skate uphill.
I like how he made anything he does sound like a positive and anything anyone else does sound like rubbish
Maybe he’s going to start a career and lifestyle blog, The World According to Stephen Dorff. He’s going to offer advice on how to be authentic, genuine, edgy, single, and salty. It will start with his assessment of your intelligence, which is a single Y/N question: can anyone be edgier than Stephen Dorff? Choose your answer wisely lest you be judged to be a f*ck*ng idiot.
Bingo.
Dude was in Blade with Westley Snipes playing that thirsty ass vampire. A movie the has been hailed by the Marvel-heads as the one that saved Marvel. He needs to chill.
I wonder if this is related to the Blade reboot and he’s in his feelings about it?
Dorf is worth 20 million, maybe.
Scarlet is worth 200 million.
I think his point here is that he doesn’t care.
Jealous and bitter is what I’m reading.
Of course, even when he was the next maybe big thing, he seemed like a brat then too.
What an edge lord!!
Who is even checking for this assh*le’s opinion on ANYTHING? Not to mention, out of ALL the things you could call Marvel out on, you pick the one recent woman led movie and then actually name check the lead actress? It’s so full of whiny ass WTFuckery it’s painful. Not to mention (and I generally think Scarjo, in addition to being tone deaf as a person on social issues is overrated as an actress) I’m sure Scarlett Johansson is crying on the pile of movie she’s made off Marvel, her Oscar nominations and the accolades she’s received from the acting community. Additionally – taking a jab at Marvel is such pathetic low hanging fruit – ah mah gah, superhero movies aren’t ART! Piss off – the past few years have been a frigging nightmare and this type of movie has been necessary escapism for a lot of people. Saying shit like this is such a sad, obvious fallback for people who want to come off as being smarter than they really are.
Is he bitter that he’s not even the best part of TD3?
Every single time one of these jackasses starts spouting off about working for the next Kubrick and bullshit like that, you know you’re dealing with someone who hasn’t come to terms with not being the next James Dean and this tool is no exception.
He sounds so freshman film school. I remember a guy like this at university. Draped along a wall, brooding with a cigarette dangling from his lips, introducing himself as “the most obnoxious man you’ll ever meet” – my response “Thanks for the warning.”
1+ Eurydice, except now he’s vaping on whatever e-cig he’s a huckster for. But sure, you’re an auteur Stephen because you said so. Keep hanging on to your artistic integrity, and your authentic self.
I actually like this guy. He legit doesn’t even care about what he’s saying or who he pisses off in Hollywood. I am here for it lol.
On one hand, I kinda like it when celebs are bitchy in interviews because it seems like they’re just being honest and not playing the Hollywood game. On the other hand, the only thing I know him from is a Britney Spears video so I guess it doesn’t mean much coming from this guy lol.
Yep all i know him from is that video
Maybe he really feels that way, but it could also come off as someone who’s bitter he never cracked the A-list.
I’ve always liked him (and yeah he has always come across as a bit of a twat) but not a good move to trash ScarJo and the movie in these metoo times.
I think someone is a bit salty about not being asked back to work on any more Marvel movies, esp with the reboot of Blade.
I mean, yes it’s not a good look to trash the movie especially since I love everyone else in the cast except for the lead, but Scarlett isn’t a great proponent of metoo.
Scarlet also believes that she can play any race so she’s not great on that aspect either.
I don’t think there is shame in taking a role for a lot of money. It’s just too bad she’s done so little with it.
This guy is such an asshole. And he’s an asshole in that, “Hey, guys, lookit how cool I am while I smoke my cigs and be all like whatever I’m an asshole, okay?” kind of way. Performative assholery.
He talks a good game but his mouth trashed his career years ago. He’s a good actor but no one wants to work with someone who’s going to turn around and talk trash about them or the project. He’s luck he gets work, his attitude sucks.
Who?
This is a bit like when people came after Scorsese for criticizing comic book films but in both cases they aren’t wrong. Most of them aren’t good and Scarlet Johansson in particular has been awful as black widow. The trailer for black widow mostly highlights the other actors because they don’t look like they are phoning it in like she has been. The marvel franchise happened because RDJ took a silly role and gave it charisma and depth. And most of the other actors did what they could too. She just happened to be the only woman in the mix at first so they were afraid to criticize how dull she was because it would look like they were picking on the only woman. But then you see what Tessa Thompson did with her role, or Brie Larson, or Cate Blanchett and Zendaya and you can see that Scarjo has just been not good as black widow.
I’m not much of a Marvel or comic book movie fan, but how hard is it for him to just say “I’m not really interested in those, they’re not for me” rather than saying he’s embarrassed for the actors in them? And the comment about the money.
I agree with you about the Marvel movies and RDJ. I love RDJ, always have, but not the movies. But I wouldn’t trash them like SD did, I’d just say they aren’t my cup of tea. I don’t get it. And I don’t think Black Widow looks great either. Florence Pugh didn’t do much for me as Amy in Little Women. But again, it’s not my kind of movie and I’m not going to pay to see it so why would anyone care what I think.
He’s a good actor. He was very good in TD3 and I didn’t even realize it was the kid from Power Of One. Incidentally, my husband who grew up in South Africa (white and Jewish) but left because of racism LOVED the book, but I think they messed up the movie by adding the love story. Not needed. It could have been so much better.
I agree with him about the Oscars and the Marvel movies, but he seems like kind of an ass. Whatever.
What a sexist and shitty thing to say, like women are only out for money, no wonder he’s single. He also doesn’t have the money and fame to support 5 ex wives….but whatever.
Has anyone heard of the movie Bucky Larson: Born to be a star? Its ones of the worst things ever made, God awful and unwatchable. Guess who happens to be in it? Lol. He sounds like a bitchy ass. Scarlett has been working since she was a little girl and has quite the filmography. Have they all been great? No. But she’s consistent and is probably rolling in the money. I’m embarrassed for him honestly. What an ass
“I pretty much still only have me to deal with.”
Which seems a lot.
Twitter came for this guy yesterday. All this talk of ‘artistic purity’ and not wanting to be in a video game movie, and his IMDB is full of trash films. Heatstroke. Jackals. And who can forget the classic 2015 picture American Hero.
the only decent thing he’s done is Blade and True Detective.
Can you believe Mahershela Ali had to put his foot down so he wouldn’t get second billing behind this guy? TWO Oscars and they wanted to give him second billing. As for the Marvel movies, they’re not supposed to be high art, they’re well made escapist fun, I didn’t think I’d enjoy them but I did. Captain America has the best series followed by Iron Man, if they do Black Panther right and can come back from the devastating loss of Chadwick Boseman, it could end up being the best series.
Eh. Another guy who DGAF ranting by throwing around the very Fs he says he doesn’t give.
Come on, he’s a misogynist. He didn’t say this about RDJ, Chris Evans, or Pratt did he? The comment about 5 ex wives he’d have to “pay for” jumped out, but not as big as this:
“I’ll find that kid director that’s gonna be the next Kubrick and I’ll act for him instead.”
HIM
Come on.
Not with his attitude. The kid director will refuse to hire him because he is such a jack ass and will try to dictate how the kid director does his job.
I mean I love Marvel but could not give less of a crap about Black Widow. She’s the least interesting character in that entire series and won’t be in the films moving forward, so I just…don’t care at all, and definitely won’t be paying extra to rent it early.
That said, it’s so annoying when actors try to be edgy by saying they’d never be in a big franchise. There’s good acting and storytelling in big franchises. It is what the actors make of it and it’s not cool to hate on it.
Living in a house with a bunch of comic book, superhero and action movie lovers, it’s my opinion that the Black Widow character was fine and could have been better ‘exploited’ and explored. It was the casting that destroyed that particular character. Scarlett’s portrayal makes viewers stop with what’s unfolding in front of them. There’s no enticement to dive deeper and ask questions. She’s just not as good an actor as she and everyone thinks she is lol.
I agree with this. Of course he would take the money if offered, but the black widow character as played by scarjo is just not good. It was always a battle between her and Renner as to who could be the most useless and uninteresting. So I have no interest in paying extra money to watch this film, although if it’s any good it will be because of the costars and not scarjo.
Sure BW might suck, but his last consistent work was those E cigarette ads. And his last memorable role was the villain in the first Blade movie.
Please. Dude was IN a comic book movie. BLADE. He’s full of $hit. And I can guaran-damn-tee you he has auditioned for Marvel roles.
This screams that he either keeps getting rejected for Marvel roles or he does think those movies are total shit and in that case… don’t audition for them? Why do we care?
I’m not excited about this one. The only time I liked Black Widow as a character was in Avengers 1 and I warmed up to her in Captain America 2. Besides that, she’s dull and my least favorite character. The movie also feels like it’s about 5-8 years too late. If they had to make a movie for a female superhero there were so many better choices. Heck, they could do a whole WASP thing and that would have been more entertaining. Anyway, Dorff should have blown up but never did. Now I remember him the most from Blade (he was so cute then) and the Britney Spears “Anytime” video being all melodramatic. He has zero room to talk about anyone’s movie game.
What’s with all the hate for the Black Widow character? Really? The worst one is Hawkeye, he’s a superhero sominex.
I think it’s more that folks around here just don’t like ScarJo— None of the movies are high art and I thought she did fine with what she was given.
I am going to buy it early on Disney because it looks fun and the cast is cool.
Has anyone checked on Scarlett?! She must be devastated! Meh it’s too hot for facetious comments or whatever. Listen Stephen…don’t be a jelly h8ter k?
Who is this person who looks like he just crawled out of a garbage dump and why does he think anyone cares about his opinion?
Christ, what an asshole.
Too bad Brit retired from making music, he could have been in another one of her videos. 😏
So no role in the Blade reboot for him, I guess. Silver lining.
I’m not sure why he’s offering his opinion: it has no weight other than to make people want to watch Black Widow. It’s not going to make people queue up for whatever the hell his next one is because no one cares.
Wonder who’s going to crawl out of a tar pit to bitch about Shang-Chi when it comes out?
“He’s 47 and free: “I don’t have a family yet and I don’t have five ex-wives that I have to pay for. I pretty much still only have me to deal with.”
Gee, I wonder why.
My favorite part is where he says he doesn’t care about money, but likes money, but it’s okay because he buys art with his money. I cackled out loud!! Yeah, it’s okay for him to earn and spend money because he does it with such class. He’s not like the rest of us peasants.
Sorry of anyone is a fan but I never heard of this guy and frankly he is loser. I’ve met this guy so many times in my life, Oh I didn’t want that promotion it just means more hours and you have to suck up. UGH, you know he would give his back teeth to be in a movie with Scarlett.
Did he forget he was in “Blade?”
I’m not totally hating on him based on these quotes. He seems quite happy with his place in the hierarchy and some of what he said is accurate. He actually was good in “Somewhere” and he actually was really good as Candy Darling in “I shot Andy Warhol” . He’s a bit curmudgeonly , self absorbed, but seems to stay in his lane.
He’s perfect. No kids, no ex-wives. He’s a unicorn for middle-aged babes. 🙂
I’m not terribly interested in Black Widow but I’ll see it to support Marvel’s first standalone female director, Cate Shortland. ‘Cos you just know if it isn’t a success the misogynists will have a field day and blame her: I don’t want to give them the satisfaction.
I might be a new S.Dorff fan- lol
So sick of the stale publicist taking points interviews – this is very 90’s of him, like old school K. Reeves, sitting around tee-ing off on sh!t. Give me the post-corona, pent up IDGAF venting.
Treasuring this one,
“But I’m gonna go to Cannes and we’re gonna have a standing ovation, and kids around the world, art students and John Waters fans are going to worship this f**king movie, which they do to this day. Why wouldn’t I do that? So I fired those agents.”