Willem Dafoe: TV is not for me

Willem Dafoe has said he wouldn't want to work in TV in case he ended up under pressure to please audiences.

The Oscar-nominated actor - who has made a huge variety of films in his career - insisted he is not a snob, but thinks television puts limits on directors.

He said: "I've never done TV. And I'm one of the holdouts. I'm attracted to directors. And I'm also attracted to the poetry of movies. In TV there's little poetry.

"In TV you can do many great things and right now all the power, all the resource, everybody's interest is in TV. But I think it's limited.

"I can't say I'm a snob, because now TV is almost as respected or more respected than movies, so that doesn't make me a snob. It's just I find more interesting opportunities in film. Where the director is the king, not the producer or the audience. Because I think the most interesting things are made when someone makes something from the heart, and if they do it well, people will respond to it."

The 56-year-old actor - who stars as a man sent on a mission to hunt the legendary last Tasmanian Tiger in new psychological drama The Hunter - also insisted he would never want to direct himself.

He said: "No, no. I like the doing part. I don't like the preparation and I don't like ordering people around."

"I like being a little irresponsible and I like the adventure, and I find those things more possible in being an actor."

:: The Hunter is in cinemas now.