'Little Miss Sunshine' was really important to me.
— Paul Dano
I love Brooklyn; it's a part of who you are.
Sometimes I think your intellect can get in your way as an actor or an artist. When you come from a world of improv and comedy, you're able to let it flicker and fall out.
I think control is a two-way street; sometimes people want to control things to keep them safe if they are afraid of life.
I volunteered at a homeless shelter in preparation for 'Being Flynn,' and when I'm walking along the Bowery, that's the first thing that comes to mind. That's a nice memory.
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 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.
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 approach every role from scratch.
The world of the homeless is a tough and interesting world.
I feel like I have to be responsible for what I'm participating in or putting out into the world.
I love Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Guns N' Roses and AC/DC.
Your director is your main support - actors don't generally give each other advice on set, not in my experience.
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.
When you repeat yourself so many times, even if you're speaking the truth, the repetition starts to feel false. Sometimes, you just feel like the words you're speaking, even if they once had meaning, have lost it. And that makes you feel kind of silly.
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.
I guess sometimes fear is a good thing. It's a really good motivator.
I always ask for more takes. I like doing takes, so I'll do as many as I can.
The better the acting is, the harder it is to see what the process is.
Even when I'm alone, my life revolves around film. I think that's why I live in New York, not L.A., where it's so concentrated.
I like listening to my playlist on the iPod. I don't want radio with commercials.
I'm not a big shopper. I'm a pretty simple dresser, and that's not my pleasure go-to thing, looking for clothes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
People think memorizing lines is hard, when that's the last thing you worry about. You get that done, and then you've got to worry about the internal stuff, which is the challenging 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.
One of my favorite films is 'Dumb and Dumber.'
I've been fortunate to work with several actors and directors who I look up to, and learned from each of them.
I'd love to do a really broad comedy at some point.
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.
In tragedy, it's hard to find a good resolution; it's not black and white: it's a big fog of gray.
Sometimes we fall in love with the idea of a person and have trouble seeing the real thing.
I think you sometimes have to go hit rock bottom before you can grow and rebuild as a person.
To be running away from explosions with Harrison Ford, you know, that's pretty great.
I went to private school in Manhattan, and at a young age, they made us do public speaking. For some reason, I was good at standing in front of the class and speaking.
It's a lot of fun to be a part of films that you don't exactly know how they're going to turn out.
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.
Let's say honorary favorite New Yorker is John Lennon, and favorite real New Yorker is Biggie, because he's the best.
I would not take a girl to a club on a Thursday. I would not take her to a really noisy, swanky restaurant.
I can obviously relate to a character who is an artist, because the creative process is a big part of my life.
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.
I go down to the dive bar around the corner when I go out. I don't go to the showbiz parties.
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.
At the heart of drama is conflict.
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 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.
The only constant I can find is hard work.
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?'
