Courtesy of Andscape

Willem Dafoe discusses the themes of 'The Man in My Basement' and the psychological thriller genre

By Sophia Soto | Last updated Sep 19, 2025 9:32 AM ET

Willem Dafoe stars as Anniston Bennet in The Man in My Basement, based on the acclaimed novel by Walter Mosley. The film is now playing in select theaters and will be released on Hulu and Disney+ this fall.

In the African American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, New York, Charles Blakey is out of work, out of luck and on the verge of foreclosure on his ancestral home. A knock on the door from a mysterious businessman, Anniston Bennet, brings a bizarre and lucrative proposition; rent his dusty stand-up basement out for the summer and receive enough money to clear his debts for good. Once Charles accepts, he finds himself led down a terrifying path that confronts his family’s ghosts and locks the men in a terrifying puzzle, at the heart of it race, the source of their traumas and the root of all evil.

I spoke with the actor on behalf of Yardbarker about getting into the mindset of his character, why this is the perfect genre for such thought-provoking themes, and more.

"[Psychological thrillers are] about people that are searching for something, something in their head. It's a struggle that's very interior, so they're asking questions," the actor explained. "Existential questions or questions of their circumstance, and that'll lead you to some of these subjects about worldview, what oppresses you, and what you're afraid of."

He continued to reflect on his part in the story, saying, "I just like the idea of someone that's struggling to figure things out, and he's got a partner in this with Corey's character, and they aren't a natural pair to work together, but they sort of use each other to try to find some sort of peace. But they're both men with very dark secrets that haunt their lives and really keep them from going forward in any way. So that's the struggle, and that's not my life, but it's fun to be in that head so I can explore some of those different ways of thinking and some of those themes."

Sophia Soto

Sophia Soto is a writer and interviewer with a passion for all things entertainment. She is a Senior Reporter at The Nerds of Color and contributes to Yardbarker, Screensphere, Den of Geek, What to Watch, Nerdtropolis, and Temple of Geek. You can see her past work on Remezcla, Young Hollywood, Looper, Paste Magazine, Primetimer, Soundsphere, and Starry Constellation Magazine

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