When, unbeknownst to each other, two directors pursue the same subject at the same time, typically somebody loses. But when a director and a star just happen to be tracking the same Viennese novella from 1895, everybody wins.

That’s what happened to director Kent Jones and Willem Dafoe .

It was early 2024, and Jones had signed on to direct Late Fame , an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s book about an aging postal worker and onetime poet who is suddenly lionized by a group of idealistic young creatives. Jones had just attended the PGA Awards and was flying from Los Angeles back to New York, and as luck would have it, Dafoe was his seatmate.

When, unbeknownst to each other, two directors pursue the same subject at the same time, typically somebody loses. But when a director and a sta

See Full Page