Paul Dano Quotes

Theater is hard.

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 went to tranny bars and kind of got used to being around that and then getting dressed up.

I grew up in Manhattan, and now I live in Brooklyn.

I think carrying your gut, or your instincts, through all the learning, is one of the most important things. You learn to prepare for a part in different ways, you learn to experiment, what you do for the character - you try working in different ways.

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 like the idea of finding parts that I know I can do but I don't totally understand them right away.

Some projects go as you hope or imagine, and some change or reveal themselves in a different way; it depends.

My favorite color is blue, and my secret favorite color is pink.

Being actors is a strange job.

George C. Scott, man, was a powerful dude.

I love Brooklyn; it's a part of who you are.

Sometimes we fall in love with the idea of a person and have trouble seeing the real thing.

A lot of people think I must be weird because of the films I've done. I get that.

'Looper' was a wonderful script. Rian Johnson is the real deal and a really talented filmmaker.

Your director is your main support - actors don't generally give each other advice on set, not in my experience.

I've been fortunate to work with several actors and directors who I look up to, and learned from each of them.

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.

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 think that one of the strangest things about being an actor is, it's almost freelance work.

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 like movies a lot, and I feel really excited when I see a movie that moves me the right way.

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 don't want my learning curve to be stunted by just all of a sudden doing work all the time and not being careful about the work that I'm doing.

I don't know that praise is always a good thing.

I love filming in New York. I love New York movies, too. I just like it when people can take New York and make it their own, because there are so many different New Yorks.

I think it is important to make sure that I have my real life as well, because Hollywood can certainly seem like an alternate reality sometimes.

'Little Miss Sunshine' was really important to me.

I can obviously relate to a character who is an artist, because the creative process is a big part of my life.

I've seen people, where if they have to wait around the set for three hours, and they call you at the wrong time, and they're not ready for you, some people don't like that.

This is so lame to say in a magazine, but I just grabbed some pink wallpaper. I find it to be a very relaxing color.

It's hard to talk about acting because I don't think it's quite as explicit as a lot of people might think. And that's probably the best thing about it.

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.

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.

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.

The world of the homeless is a tough and interesting world.

I try to leave my work at the door when I leave the set. It's almost like summer camp. You go in hard, then you leave, and it's done.

Sometimes it's summer camp on location. So it's nice to have a little New York community of people you love.

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.

With somebody like Harrison Ford, they're so commanding and confident, and you know, he does have a certain power or charisma, and those are things that are sort of ineffable.

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.

To be running away from explosions with Harrison Ford, you know, that's pretty great.

I don't have any tattoos.

The less acting you have to do, the better, I think.

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.

People have asked me about playing outsiders. I don't consider myself an outsider. Maybe that's why I'm interested in that. I'm not really sure.

You try to get to know your character as best as you can before you start filming - what's written and not written.

In 'There Will Be Blood,' my character was someone who was an actor himself almost. He had a rehearsed quality about him. He was a performance artist in a way.

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.

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.

I'm really excited to share the movie [Swiss Army Man] with people, so I'm glad that people are seeing it. And I want them to, because I think it's a really fun movie to experience sitting next to people. It makes it funnier. It makes it more comfortable. It makes it sweeter.

I think control is a two-way street; sometimes people want to control things to keep them safe if they are afraid of 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.

There's that thing that if you want to have any kind of lasting love, I think you have to love the whole person and not just the parts of them that you choose.

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.

At the heart of drama is conflict.

I know I'd like to direct a film at some point, and maybe I'll write it.

The better the acting is, the harder it is to see what the process is.

It just so happens that when I was, like, 19 or 20, I got a couple of auditions and got a couple parts with good people. Of the thousands of auditions where you don't get the part, I've done a couple of jobs where you do it and you're like, "Okay, this is good."

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.

I've definitely had mentors, whether parents or friends or actors who I like.

I think you sometimes have to go hit rock bottom before you can grow and rebuild as a person.

I would not take a girl to a club on a Thursday. I would not take her to a really noisy, swanky restaurant.

I started acting pretty young, so I haven't had too many odd jobs. But I used to sell candy out of my locker in middle school.

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'm not a person who needs to chit-chat between takes by any means.

I feel like I have to be responsible for what I'm participating in or putting out into the world.

I like characters that make me feel challenged and sort of inspired.

I don't normally like getting dressed up, but when I go to events, I like to look put together. I've got to say, getting in a nice suit feels good.

Let's say honorary favorite New Yorker is John Lennon, and favorite real New Yorker is Biggie, because he's the best.

I like listening to my playlist on the iPod. I don't want radio with commercials.

Have I seen any plays that I've been in? Uh, you know, might be a little weird.

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.

There are maybe 100 actors I look up to, but my first two favourite actors were Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.

Everything you do, every experience that you have, enlightens you a little bit or worsens you.

I love Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Guns N' Roses and AC/DC.

Certainly, being on stage is a rush.

I always ask for more takes. I like doing takes, so I'll do as many as I can.

There's a lot of people that I would love to work with. There's a lot of different kinds of parts I wanna play. As your career progresses, you hope that you get some more opportunity or some more choice.

Michael Caine is so happy. Happy and healthy. I think he enjoys life. I think he's 82 now, and I have no clue if I'll be working at that age.

I feel like having something that you're passionate about helps to keep you young.

One of my favorite films is 'Dumb and Dumber.'

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 tore my ACL playing basketball.

I've definitely been in ruts, and I think having some kind of perseverance is important.

The idea of writer's block or not having inspiration is totally terrifying to me.

One thing you notice is, there's a lot of people with raw talent, and then there's people who take that talent and work hard.

The hardest thing about working with your partner is that the work starts to become first.

I approach every role from scratch.

I don't like tight pants on guys.

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.

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 think I was almost 12, so I knew who George C. Scott was, but if I could work with George C. Scott now, I'd be so pumped.