Paul Dano Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

I'm lactose intolerant,

so I've had to reject a lot of milkshakes, unfortunately.

I always feel bad.

Hey, I'm Paul Dano,

and I'm being forced to talk about myself.

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[Paul] The Batman.

[Character 1] Why is she still tied?

There was some resistance in me at first

'cause I didn't want his glasses

to be like stylish or something.

But there was something about the clear frames

with the mask and with the Saran wrap,

which is something we added where it just felt right.

It felt really right.

And I cannot quantify why.

I love Batman.

I think Gotham is the coolest

and our back lot was just insane.

And the L train over us and that diner

and that was a night filming that diner scene

where you some have some out of body

or you step out and you go like

this is a [beep] movie,

like there's a movie moment.

By Matt having such a specific point of view and a new one

it gave me a lot of freedom, you know,

like this is-

This Riddler, like I'm not gonna

worry about the other ones

or the comics or like, you know,

I tried to take all the archetypal energy I could

from the comics,

and I read a ton of them,

and I'm writing a comic now about the Riddler,

and I was shocked by how much I loved

putting out the film and engaging with that fan base.

Being, again, a fan myself

and how much further there is around the Batman.

You think you'll be remembered?

You're pathetic psychopath

begging for attention.

You're gonna die.

No, no, no, no.

You're nobody.

No.

I also think that, like, that's why

like, why would we keep making these, right?

Like, it's to reinterpret

and it's to reinterpret for the times as well

to keep investigating a character in a world.

So, I think for people

like Matt and Tim Burton and Chris Nolan

and then whoever's gonna carry it next.

Like I think it's gotta be an artist

with a point of view who's taking that character

and that city for the time that we're in.

[Paul] Little Miss Sunshine.

So who do you hang out with?

No one?

[boy writing]

I auditioned when I was 18 and for the next couple years

anytime I came to LA I would meet with the directors,

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris,

and they would basically be checking to see

if I looked too old.

That character of Dwayne.

I knew him and I-

There was a specific friend I had thought

about when playing that part

and I didn't know how

many other people I guess would also know him

'cause it felt like they did once the the movie came out.

One of the first things we filmed is

there's a dinner table scene quite early on in the film.

I think they use two cameras around us

and there's a lot of family talking

and a lot of action verbally,

and I'm trying to participate in that

but without speaking.

I mean I think I tried to experience the world

like that a little bit, right?

To communicate without speaking and use notepad.

We did some really fun in-character rehearsals

for that as well where we got in the van and went bowling

and went out to the diner, and I didn't talk.

And I have some really good memories from that film being

stuck in the back of a hot van with Alan Arkin

who was such a joy and everybody always, you know,

asked if Steve Carell was the funniest person on set

and Steve was just the loveliest

and he's very funny,

but Alan Arkin was just a razor sharp wit.

[beep] a lot of women, kid.

I have no reason to lie to you.

Not one woman.

A lot of women.

You heard what I said?

Did it go in anywhere?

I was listening to Sufjan Stevens' new album,

which had just come out that summer, I think.

And I played it for John and Val

said I'm gonna go see concert.

So, me and John and Val, and Toni Collette,

and maybe some others went to see him.

And then we went and hung out

at I think the Chateau Marmont afterwards

like drinking tequila

and then they ended up putting a Sufjan song in the film.

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I do think that

there's a really interesting thing for actors

that you have to learn to trust, like, your thoughts.

And I don't think I knew that at the time,

but I look back on that now and I go,

oh I wish I'd known

I could just really trust what I was thinking and feeling

and that if you're open that it'll be received.

[Paul] There Will Be Blood.

You just brought this well in?

That's right.

Yes.

So, just give me $500 in cash right now,

and I'll tell you where it is.

[Daniel Day Lewis] I'll tell you what, I'll do something

I'll give you a $100 now

and if it proves to be a promising lease

then give you $1,000 over

$600.

I was cast the last minute.

I remember spending the day or two

I had of prep sitting in the Sunday church

in my church with my script,

and I think with some music,

and I started learning the scenes and the lines.

We filmed on, I believe,

like a 40 thousand acre ranch in Marfa, Texas.

It was the summer,

and I think we did some six day weeks,

and it was period wool clothes.

And I so wish I remembered more,

but I remember sweating.

I remember the sun.

I remember seeing Daniel for the first time

who I had known,

and we'd done a film together

called The Battle Jack and Rose,

and I love him.

But I remember showing up there and seeing him

in his clothes and hearing his voice and, you know,

going, Oh [beep]

I think we would shake hands

at the end of the day, sometimes.

I think it's a much more intuitive natural thing

than maybe it sounds because it sort of makes sense

if you don't get along

with the character to stand across the room from each other.

'Cause I think you're building up the energy

that's going towards the scene.

Daniel, are you a sinner?

Yes.

Oh, the Lord can't hear you Daniel.

Say it to him.

Go ahead and speak to him.

It's all right.

Yes.

Down on your knees

To him look up to the sky and say it.

It was so clear the film that was being made,

and what Daniel and Paul were bringing to it.

I tried to do what was asked for in the writing

that I think occurs in this character.

I feel like the word possession feels important.

Like how to just let the possession

of the scene and the words and the spirit pass through you.

I'll never forget laying there in the blood

and hearing Daniel say the last line of the film

the way he says it

I'm finished.

I don't think anybody else would've done what he did.

[Paul] Swiss Army Man.

I had actually seen their music videos one late one night

in a hotel room while I was filming a movie called Youth,

and we were on night shoot.

So, I was staying up late,

saw their videos,

I was like, These guys are [beep] brilliant.

I was like, What is this?

Two days later, maybe, I got an email

from my agent being like,

these guys call the Daniels have a script

they wanna send you.

And I was like, No effin' way.

And I opened it,

and I read the first two pages,

which involved my character riding a corpse-farting jet ski.

[background music]

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Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Paul] I was like, well, this is it.

This is exactly, you know,

who I am.

In almost every script there's a-

I don't wanna say a key,

but there's like a moment,

an image,

something where you're like

that's my first, you know,

like hook in with that one.

As I said, it was the opening scene.

So when we were out there,

and I was on this wakeboard with a dummy, you know,

and singing at the top of my lungs,

and the music is beautiful in that film and awesome.

And so even that it just fills you up, the music.

I will say I was very grateful

that my scene partner was Daniel Radcliffe and, you know,

I had to carry him quite a bit.

That was pretty brutal.

I think it was a pretty tiring shoot.

I think I was so, like, sore every day

even though we were having fun.

Tired, sore.

Manny, run.

It felt, like, really good to be with those guys,

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert,

to be with them in the woods, you know,

making this crazy movie.

And if you haven't seen it,

it is one of the-

I would say just go watch the first five minutes,

and you can choose whether to keep going.

[Paul] Love & Mercy.

I can take us further

if you let me stay at home in the studio.

It's what I need to do.

Can I promise when you come back

I will have stuff for you that will blow your minds.

John Cusack and I play Brian Wilson.

I think John and I met on my last day and his first day.

We didn't communicate about playing the Brians.

I think we trusted in Brian

in the character of Brian and in the sort of essence

and spirit of Brian.

And I think that the way that that film

and script was structured,

we were certainly not trying to get to a place

of impersonation or imitation.

I think we were trying to just get inside

of a very complicated, you know, artist.

Nobody wants-

You don't want fake Brian Wilson's voice,

but I mean, I think, you can feel the heart-soul connection

as for an audience watching an actor

if they're actually playing or singing something.

And I guess Brian approved

'cause I was hoping to sing and play this stuff

where Brian's alone in the film.

So there's a moment in the film where I play some

of God Only Knows and some of You Still Believe in Me

and some Surf's Up.

♪ The world could show nothing to me ♪

♪ So what good would living do me? ♪

♪ God only knows what I'd be without you. ♪

[Paul] We filmed in the actual studio

that he recorded Pet Sounds in

back in '65, and they played the stuff

in the studio live,

and I got to work with them on camera.

The physical thing of learning to play some songs

and having to stretch my voice again.

I used to sing, but-

And that was a incredible experience for me.

I was given access to a lot of session tapes

and to hear Brian working with the musicians,

and it's one of the best experiences I've had as an actor,

and I think that's in large part to the music.

It was a great gift to me.

That part and that experience.

Similarly, to like Swiss,

I think it re-lit some part of me.

I don't know what part,

but something got reactivated, maybe.

♪ Vibrations a'happening with her. ♪

Good. Chuck, let's cut for a second please.

For somebody who struggled he wanted

to give people something.

I think he wanted to make them smile,

and he made me smile.

[Paul] Okja.

My name is Jay.

[Korean language]

[Korean Language]

We are animal lovers.

I can't remember what I'd done right before Okja,

but I know that I needed to play more

of a hero type of character as somebody who stands

for something,

and that felt important and right in that moment

for wherever I was in my life,

I loved that pig.

I mean I remember Bong Joon Ho showing me a drawing

of a pig years before this,

and I was like, That's it.

Like, that's the movie.

Like, this pig, like, beautiful.

It depended on the scene but there was a couple

of people who held a sort of a gray head

that was there for us,

which was great

because even a sort of grayish looking animal

is better than nothing.

You can project onto a pre-scene.

In fact, like, we all like stuffed animals, like,

you know, like, it's pretty clear we are able to

give these things personalities and feel from them.

And I remember doing, there's a moment right where, I,

Jay, pulls the shard of glass I think from Okja's foot.

And I loved the, you know, the tenderness of that moment.

♪ Like a sleepy blue ocean ♪

♪ You fill up my senses ♪

I love my LF guys.

We're still in touch.

I had a great time there in Seoul sitting on the Han River

with those guys drinking cheap soju,

and I just had a really-

We had a really good time.

[Paul] Knight and Day.

[screaming]

[intense music]

Oh my God.

Just die.

I have a really clear memory

of watching Cruise work with the stunt team,

and I remember seeing how he considered the audience

and the impact of the stunts on the audience

and how passionate and rigorous he was about that.

And that was a real lesson.

I had not been around that before.

I had not seen an actor consider the audience

and the impact of how the stunt

and the cut of the camera would feel for the audience.

And I took that with me.

I thought, okay, I would say most

of the work that I've like done isn't

about that relationship,

but I think it's fascinating

and interesting to consider it in the right thing.

I always think that the content lends itself to the form,

and there's a group of people,

there's a temperature and a vibration on set.

There's the way the director works.

There's the way that the crew works.

I mean, one of my favorite DPs I worked with

is Roger Deakins

'cause this crew is so quiet,

there's like-

and it brings a focus,

and I really appreciate that.

And I know when I was directing I wanted it to feel

like when my actor step on set everything changes.

[Paul] Escape at Dannemora.

[Deep Voice Character] David.

What the fuck are you doing in there?

Fucking dark in here, man.

Bro.

It was probably the hardest shoot I've ever done.

Like, seven months prison,

just the color of those walls.

And Ben sort of went to great lengths

to have things feel as authentic as possible,

and we shot in a lot of re-locations

and then some prisons and a lot of our extras were ex-cons.

And I really like how it turned out.

I have to say I was really impressed

with what Ben did and I guess I don't always know

when I'm doing something, you forget,

I think, that it is gonna be really entertaining and really-

'cause like once you're in the the prison

and the reality of it,

it's like, well, there's murder

and then it turns out to be

a pretty good piece of entertainment.

Yeah.

I do remember being in those pipes,

actually, that was, man.

One time Benicio showed up

they were trying to, like, measure out,

like, could we do it in the actual size of the pipe

that was there?

Walked on set,

Nope.

You know, walk, like, right,

because like I mean we could barely fit in them.

I liked that sledgehammer.

I liked breaking up down the walls.

That was fun.

[Paul] The Fabelmans

Steven Spielberg making a film that's based

on his childhood,

it is semi autobiographical.

He wrote it with Tony Kushner

who's one of my favorite writers.

And yeah, it's, I think, still hard for me

to comprehend that's Steven Spielberg would ask me

to play his father or a version of his father.

This is of course a project that's very personal to him

and was to all of us and really meaningful.

It's about a kid who discovers a family secret

and then how the camera and movies play a part

in understanding who we are and the way the world works.

And it was a big experience.

I have not acted since.

I spent a lot of time with Steven

and talking to Steven and family videos

and audio and photographs.

And it was sort of probably unprecedented access

into that person's life.

I mean it's such a trip.

But I loved this character, Burt, deeply.

Beautiful person of integrity and thought, and,

I think, deep love but maybe not somebody

who always knows how to express it.

[Paul] Ruby Sparks.

It's almost like I'm writing to spend time with her.

Who?

The girl.

The one I'm writing.

It's- I go to sleep at night just waiting

to get to my typewriter again so I can be with her.

It's like, it's like, I'm falling in love with her.

That's wonderful.

No, it's not.

I can't fall in love with the girl I write.

Why Not?

So my partner, Zoe, started writing this script,

and I don't know what this says about me,

but I think I sort of assumed it was like

she was writing it for me or something.

Just to build a movie from the ground up

and be a part of that process,

the amount of love and care you put into it

and what it then means to you.

And I think one of the profound experiences on that

aside from making something with Zoe,

was also just being on the other side of the casting table

and seeing how many like wonderful

and beautiful actors there are.

And seeing that, oh, like,

it's not about who's like good or who's bad

or who's the best.

It's like whose essence is right for this part.

And I remember there was a recovery period

from Ruby Sparks when Zoe and I had to out

like what else we talked about at the dinner table.

And I would say that that's the hardest part

of working together.

No.

I have to pee.

Stay.

I don't remember over talking with Zoe about the character

because, you know, you're meant to interpret it

and if the writing's good

I think what she's saying through it is clear.

[Paul] Prisoners.

Where are those girls?

Where are those girls?

Hey, gimme a flashlight

[Guard] Sir.

Show me where those girls-

Are they in the woods?

[Paul] People love Prisoners.

This is one of those that you don't really wanna do,

but you do, if you know what I mean.

I'd seen Denis film Incendie,

and he told me Roger Deakins was shooting it

who I just had a massive crush on.

Do I want to play that part?

No. Like really like, no.

But like, yeah.

Actually, I can see it,

and I sort of like see a way in

and then soon enough you're doing it.

One of the important moments in the development

of that was just, I remember thinking, okay,

if you've had that much trauma as a kid,

you know, what happens when we're scared

and what happens to our body?

And just like, okay,

what would happen if you just kept living with that?

And so I think a way into that character

for me was just through the physicality

of how I helped my body and my jaw even

because I needed to find a way out for my own mental health.

I needed to find a way to step in and out of that.

I knew I did not wanna engage with that material.

Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy.

That's something where you're gonna stay in the soup, the-

For the time you're doing it.

It's easier to actually, like,

once you're in those waters, like stay in them.

But with something like that I was like

how do I, Paul, learn how to-

and it was a lot of it was through physicality

and sort of saying, okay, if my body's like this

I'm entering into that character and then, you know,

can I exit out of it easier?

Yeah, luckily, Hugh Jackson was like the nicest dude

in the world.

It's true what everybody says.

He's just a super sweetie.

And so if you're gonna get beaten by somebody,

it's nice to have Hugh on the other end of it.

Tell me, tell me.

Where's my daughter?

Where's my daughter?

I, yeah, I think I didn't know that was coming.

Yeah, but I felt some good offhands.

Each time you're trying to trick yourself

into like learning how to do it all again.

To keep it, you know.

I remember on 12 Years A Slave, actually,

Chiwetel was so good at pulling up punch that we had to do

and I was like, [beep]. How is he do that?

'Cause, you know, and I remember being like,

I just felt stupid.

I was like, you know, just hit me with the whip

'cause I don't wanna have to act this.