Paul Dano
Homeless people really upset me when I was little. A lot of kids have this reaction, but I would get really worried or sad or concerned or cry.Collection: Sad
My first paying job might have been doing a play, actually. My mom paid me to dress up as a flounder at my sister's 'Little Mermaid' - themed birthday party when I was little.Collection: Birthday
A lot of people think I must be weird because of the films I've done. I get that.
New York is kind of a mythological city in may ways.
I'd always been fascinated by people who allow themselves to be so rude and irritated and foul-mouthed and hostile, but usually you can sense there's something vulnerable beneath them - a shield they use to protect that vulnerable side. Finally, when they expose that soft spot, it's kind of touching.
I'm a sucker for period pieces. There is always great opportunity for research and to delude yourself into feeling like you are in a different time and place.
I know I am always pumped, as an audience member, to go and see a Western.
I think that the Western went away for a while because part of its function was that it used to be America's action film.
In life, you have to keep certain parts of yourself in check because you want to be a decent human being. But one of the guilty pleasures of acting is that sometimes you get to let a little something out that you don't in life because it's not right.
I know I'd like to direct a film at some point, and maybe I'll write it.
I'm a private person, but I don't feel afraid to walk out of my door or anything. I get recognised occasionally, but not overwhelmingly so.
I want to do some bigger films, so long as there's some sort of exciting creative element or a good filmmaker behind them.
There are maybe 100 actors I look up to, but my first two favourite actors were Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.
I don't have any tattoos.
'Looper' was a wonderful script. Rian Johnson is the real deal and a really talented filmmaker.
As an actor, I always feel you basically have to be able to delude yourself.
As people, no matter what we are doing, your whole body is living and breathing.
To be called a genius at 17 or 18 years old can sometimes cause arrested development.
I guess sometimes fear is a good thing. It's a really good motivator.
You look at the part in '12 Years A Slave,' you finish that script - I mean, it's a powerful story. You go, 'Man, I have to play a bad character in this.' And then you go, 'Well, do I want to play a bad character and contribute to a good story?'
I remember going to the theatre when I was little and the lights going down and just getting really scared about what was going to happen up there.
The only constant I can find is hard work.
The whole being-in-a-room interview thing, at a junket or a film festival, is very inhuman. You meet the person, have five or 10 minutes to talk, and it's not like a conversation.
I know an actor who would play one type of part but could never get cast as tough. Once he got cast as tough, as a cop, he only got offered cop roles. It's a funny business in that regard. It's all about perception.
I'd love to do a really broad comedy at some point.
I do think the first time you read a script, that gut response is very important, and that probably plants a seed that continues to blossom throughout the whole experience.
On 'There Will Be Blood,' I was cast at the last minute. I had 3 and a half to 4 days to get ready for the first day. I just went for it, threw myself in there and gave it everything I had. That was just guts and instinct, not a lot of preparation.
I've been fortunate to work with several actors and directors who I look up to, and learned from each of them.
Your director is your main support - actors don't generally give each other advice on set, not in my experience.
At the heart of drama is conflict.
One of my favorite films is 'Dumb and Dumber.'
I love Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Guns N' Roses and AC/DC.
When I'm not acting, I like to go home and be really normal. So I usually grow out my hair until I get the next part.
I do like the idea of consequence and how our actions play themselves out, but I am completely scared of knowing what the future would be like. I would never go near a fortune teller, even though it's probably not even real. I just don't wanna know.
I feel like I have to be responsible for what I'm participating in or putting out into the world.
I go down to the dive bar around the corner when I go out. I don't go to the showbiz parties.
The world of the homeless is a tough and interesting world.
I used to write a lot of songs. I was an English major in college. I was a deluded poet for a year. Totally deluded.
Films can be entertaining without shying away from exploring something. They can be magical and have fantasy, but also can have enough reality that you can be really emotionally invested.
I approach every role from scratch.
I can obviously relate to a character who is an artist, because the creative process is a big part of my life.
Listening to hard rock on the subway doesn't work for me, especially modern hard rock. Driving in L.A. helped me to understand the appeal of that music.
Robert De Niro's sort of like a surfer: he doesn't really force anything. So if he catches the wave, or something spills out - to watch a guy be a force at what he does. He has a good worth ethic.
I would not take a girl to a club on a Thursday. I would not take her to a really noisy, swanky restaurant.
Spring and fall in New York are the best seasons here to get out and about. I like the little park in Dumbo between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridge. I like Prospect Park.
I like a restaurant called Bruci, and there's some really nice people who work there and good food. They change their menu a lot, so maybe that's what keeps me coming back. I never know what I'm going to get.
Let's say honorary favorite New Yorker is John Lennon, and favorite real New Yorker is Biggie, because he's the best.
When my girlfriend's away, I cook a big vat of meaty pasta and sauce and eat that for about a week. Then I eat out the rest of the time. When she's home, we eat at home probably twice a week. I chop, she cooks.
I don't like to spend a lot of money on haircuts: I'll sometimes grow my hair and get an acting job and get them to cut it for free. I think for a lady, though, it's okay to spend a lot on a haircut.
I'm not a big shopper. I'm a pretty simple dresser, and that's not my pleasure go-to thing, looking for clothes.