New York based actor Paul Dano has had the fortunate opportunity in his short career to work with some of the strongest actors of our generation. Easily moving from huge, hyped blockbusters to small indies hasn’t phased Dano and he seems to enjoy the challenge of being put in situations that aren’t entirely comfortable to him.
In his latest, “The Extra Man,” Dano plays Louis Ives, an insecure teacher, whose need to figure himself out gets him fired and left searching for both work and a life in New York City. He moves in with Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), is introduced to a subculture of New Yorkers subsisting on the kindness of much richer strangers and falls for your stereotypical eco-conscious crusader, played by Katie Holmes. Dano is able to hold his own against the strong force that is Kline on screen, and make us empathize for a lost soul who sees no problem with getting spanked or dressing like a woman to find himself. It takes a strong man to not even question a script where he spends more than a few scenes in women’s lingerie.
We had the opportunity to discuss the eccentric character with Dano, along with his upcoming role in “Cowboys and Aliens,” his appreciation of Americana, what keeps him in New York and what its like to make an indie film with tabloid stars. Dano gave us a brief look into how he prepares for his roles, working with Tom Cruise in “Knight & Day,” and the “treacherous” shoot that was Kelly Reichardt’s next picture, the indie Western, “Meek’s Cutoff.”
The Playlist: What spoke to you about this role?
Paul Dano: Well, you know, first you get the script in the mail and see that Shari [Springer Berman], Robert [Pulcini] were directing it. I really loved “American Splendor.” And that Kevin Kline was in it, that made me really excited to read it in the first place. I’m a big fan of Kevin’s, that was really exciting, to get the chance to work with him. But then when I read it, the thing that stuck with me, there was a scene when I carry an elderly woman up the stairs to put her in bed. On first read, you have weird gut reactions sometimes, and the image of carrying the woman up the stairs, I don’t know what it was but it was really sweet and tender and…romantic? And kind of funny, too. So I just liked that. There was definitely a challenge there. And I really liked his external qualities vs. internal ones. [My character] tries to dress nice and be optimistic and chivalrous, but on the inside he’s really lost, and so the balance of those two things I thought was a nice thing to dig into.
Were you worried about the cross-dressing at all?
Yeah. Literally, when I accepted the part, I didn’t even think twice about that. I thought, “Yeah, you like the film, do it.” But a couple weeks later, I thought, “Wow you should have thought about that more.” But I guess there’s always something that you’re worried about or nervous about, but that’s probably a healthy thing. I don’t know why you’d worry. You’re going to try something new.
Did you put the small eccentricities in the character or was that all in the script?
Well it starts with the writing, but you are given a certain opportunity to expand with the director and inject. Because ultimately, they are the final author of the film in the editing room. But I think the nice part of this film is you have to figure out whats behind the words. Because the words are really funny in this film, but for me if I didn’t figure out why Louis feels this way then it would be just total caricature and you want to justify the eccentricities, so I sort of feel like I understand where he was, for the most part. Or at least as much as he did, since he didn’t understand himself. Actually he has bad self-confidence and he is trying to fit in places and I think the film is really about finding a place to fit in. It’s a coming of age thing.
You said that this movie took about 27 days. With “Meek’s Cutoff,” was that anywhere in the same realm. How quick was that shot?
Well, it was much longer than Kelly’s other films, but by much longer I don’t mean four months. Meek’s was maybe 30 days.
What was that shoot like?
Treacherous. It was awesome, it was great. We filmed on real locations in the desert out in southeastern Oregon. From our motel we’d have to drive two hours down some dust path and we were working with oxen every day. The first week, people were getting heat stroke, and by week three the weather had changed and somebody got hypothermia. I think I can truly say about that film — people think the movies are nice things and are glamorous — this wasn’t. Eight of us shared the hair and makeup trailer, and I love that kind of thing. And a lot of the movie involves manual labor, which is probably why I wanted to do it, just go out in the desert and do something. It was a tough shoot, in a good way. But you know, it was tough.
You seem to have an affinity for American stories.
Like in books, I love the idea of America. But I think it’s a nostalgic idea. There’s something about it. I’ve never thought about it. I’ve never thought about it in any of the movies I’ve done, but some are obvious. It’s not something I think about when I read a script. It must be some sort of subconscious thing. But I do like the idea of America. I guess there’s so much cynicism these days, that there’s something I like about past ideas of America. I love the West, the Kelly Reichardt film, the pioneer thing, “There Will Be Blood,” I just love that shit, I eat it up.
Yeah, you know, it’s hard to quantify sometimes what it feels like or what the difference is. But it is a very different type of film. Timing is a huge difference. And the paycheck is different and you sort of hope, once you are there you all want the same thing. Like, build a relationship with your director, and fellow actors, but it is a big difference in making big vs small films. And “Knight and Day” was a first time thing for me. I’d never been in a movie like that. And I thought, I should try doing this at some point, and I thought James Mangold and Tom Cruise was not a bad way to take a stab at it. I had fun doing it.
It’s interesting, because you’re working right now on Jon Favreau’s latest, which has the money, but also has this sort of anticipation around it. Can you talk about your character in it?
Yeah. I don’t think I’m supposed to [talk about his character]. These days because of things on the Internet, they like to try and like to keep things under wraps. I should have asked them what I could say. I play a cowboy, and I’m sort of like drunk, spoiled arrogant young man who has money and an attitude. Getting to work with some of those actors, and Fav is a really good director. He’s also been really impressive with the actors and the story, making sure that we feel good and shoot everything right. Encouraging us in the right way, always giving me more freedom. And there’s some great actors on that. Daniel Craig is an awesome dude, Sammy Rockwell is a friend of mine, so it’s fun to spend time with them.
Can you talk about the difference between working with Tom Cruise, who is a movie star, and the whole cast of “An Extra Man” who were from or had experience in theater?
I don’t think so. I think it depends more on the material and the director, but I mean I don’t really think so. I was going to say that Tom Cruise might not put on a weird beard like John C. Reilly did in the film, but you look at Les Grossman [from “Tropic Thunder“] and I guess he would. Maybe movie stars have nicer haircuts.
Any directors or people you’re interested in working with?
I guess, I don’t get starstruck by a lot of actors, but directors. The answers are pretty obvious. I would love to work with people like Alfonso Cuaron or Jim Jarmusch or Terrence Malick. And there’s a lot of foreign filmmakers who I like, where if they ever want to use an American actor…. Like Bong Joon-ho or Claire Denis, just all over. And then I’d love to work with people like Steven Spielberg. I’m trying to start—like “Cowboys and Aliens,” I want to do some bigger films. And the trick is finding ones that I would like to see. That just makes it a little more fun.
“The Extra Man” opens up in limited release on Friday, July 30.
