Willem Dafoe enchants as Ed, a postie who once hung with Beat poets, publishing a collection that faded from memory. Falling in with a young writers’ group years later, and for Greta Lee’s out-of-work actor, Gloria, the gentle-hearted soul spies a second chance. But can you ever go back?

Late Fame
Late Fame
Director
Runtime
97 Minutes
Country
United States
Classification
Unclassified 15+
The inimitable Willem Dafoe brings his abundantly ruffled charm to this New York City story directed with pep by Kent Jones (Hitchcock/Truffaut, 2015). Dafoe plays Ed, a postal worker who hung with the Beat literati, though never reached the heights of Ginsberg and Burroughs. His only poetry collection, Way Past Go, fell out of print long ago. These days, Ed’s a postal worker, but a chance street encounter with Meyers (Civil War, 2024 actor Edmund Donovan), a snobbish NYU student, thrusts him into the attention of a would-be writers’ group and Past Lives (2023) star Greta Lee’s hot mess of a club singer, Gloria. Is this his moment, at long last? A gorgeously lived-in drama, it’s been adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s posthumously published novella of the same name by May December (AFF 2023) writer Samy Birch. With a dash of Kill Your Darlings (2013) youthful hope and a splash of Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) faded promise, Dafoe emotionally anchors this Venice Film Festival gem.
"An exquisitely wry and melancholic new drama."
The New Yorker
"Late Fame is a story of a certain sort of wistful foolishness, affectionately told … a loving and lovely sensibility runs through it."
The New York Times
"A truly great and nuanced role for Dafoe, whose physical presence can evoke coarse sturdiness and emotional delicacy at the same time."
Vulture
"Hitchcock once said that nine-tenths of a film’s success is in the casting, by which measure Late Fame already qualifies as a hit ... Willem Dafoe’s is a performance so natural it barely looks like acting at all and it keeps the film honest."
The Guardian
"Lyrical and enchanting."
Variety
Vienna – Standard Award
Venice
New York
Sydney
Film Credits
Director
Kent Jones
Year
2025
Country
United States
Language
English
Type
Feature Fiction
Program Strand
World Cinema
Producer
Pamela Koffler & Christine Vachon
Writer
Samy Burch
Cinematographer
Wyatt Garfield
Editor
Mike Selemon
Cast
Edmund Donovan, Greta Lee & Willem Dafoe
Music
Don Fleming
Film Source
Transmission Films
Genre
Drama & Romance
Purchase Tickets
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