From playing The Riddler in The Batman to a disaffected dork in Little Miss Sunshine, Paul Dano’s had a long and diverse presence on screen. The actor recently sat down to break down a few of his most well-known roles for GQ’s Iconic Characters series.
On his instantly seminal performance as The Riddler, Dano said there was a lot of freedom from director Matt Reeves to explore his own way of playing the iconic villain. “Why would we keep making these? It’s to reinterpret, and to reinterpret for the times as well,” says Dano.
Although Little Miss Sunshine premiered in 2006, Dano had been attached to the project for numerous years before the film’s debut. “I auditioned when I was 18 and for the next couple of years anytime I came to LA I would meet with the directors Jonathan and Valerie,” says Dano. “They would basically be checking to see if I looked too old.”
Another seemingly “meant to be” moment for Dano was his involvement in the 2016 film Swiss Army Man directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known in Hollywood as The Daniels). “I saw their videos and was like, ‘this is f**king brilliant. What is this?’” says Dano. “Two days later I got an email from my agent saying, ‘these guys called The Daniels have a script they want to send you.’ I was like, ‘no effin’ way.’”
In his latest acting venture, Dano was lucky enough to not only be directed by Steven Spielberg but also offered the chance to play a character inspired by Spielberg’s very own father in the upcoming film The Fabelmans. “It’s still hard for me to comprehend that Steven Spielberg would ask me to play his father,” says Dano.
Although he has worked with some of the greats, one project that stands out in Dano’s career was when he played opposite his partner, Zoe Kazan, in the 2012 film Ruby Sparks. “I remember there was some recovery period from Ruby Sparks where Zoe and I had to figure out what else we talk about at the dinner table,” admits Dano.
