Willem Dafoe Joins Anne Hathaway in Dee Rees’ ‘The Last Thing He Wanted’

Willem Dafoe has found his follow-up to his Oscar-nominated performance in “The Florida Project,” as the veteran actor has signed on to co-star with Anne Hathaway in the Netflix pic “The Last Thing He Wanted.”

Dee Rees, who wrote and directed “Mudbound” for Netflix, will write and helm the film.

The story is based on the 1996 novel by Joan Didion and centers on hardscrabble journalist Elena McMahon, who finds herself on dangerous ground as the Iran Contra Affair’s arms for drugs plot reaches its tipping point.

Dafoe will play Hathaway’s father in the film.

Marco Villalobos will co-write the script with Rees. “Mudbound” producer Cassian Elwes is also producing “The Last Thing He Wanted.” Jamin O’Brien, Wayne Godfrey, and Robert Jones are executive producing.

Netflix won the worldwide rights to the movie last week after Bloom introduced it at the Berlin Film Festival.

Dafoe is coming off some of the best reviews of his career in “The Florida Project,” and followed that up with a key role in “Murder on the Orient Express.” He looks to have another busy 2018 with roles in several films, including “Aquaman,” which bows this December. He also has the Robert Eggers film “The Lighthouse,” in which he stars opposite Robert Pattinson.

He is repped by CAA and Circle of Confusion.