By Alexis Swerdloff
Photo by Alexander Thompson
As the non-talking, Nietzsche-worshipping, red-Vans-wearing member of the dysfunctional Hoover family in the quirky Sundance darling Little Miss Sunshine, Paul Dano has joined the ranks of Maggie Simpson, Silent Bob, Rudy's chubby friend Peter from The Cosby Show and Charlie Chaplin as one of the greatest non-talkers of all time. Of staying silent for a good chunk of Little Miss, Dano says, "That was a big learning experience, for real."
The charming Connecticut native, who is also an English major at the New School, first made us aware of his presence as a troubled 15-year-old who catches the eye of a creepy, pedophiliac ex-Marine (Brian Cox) in 2001's L.I.E. In 2005 he inched his way closer to the mainstream, appearing in The Ballad of Jack and Rose. But Dano will burst out, as it were, with three upcoming movies: in this fall's Little Miss Sunshine; as a disgruntled fast-food worker in Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation; and as a wild thing in the much-anticipated Spike Jonze project Where the Wild Things Are. Of the eccentric Jonze, Dano says, "We threw down. I kicked his ass a few times." In the meantime, Dano's keeping it real. He lives in the East Village with some old friends from Connecticut. He listens to Sufjan Stevens. He goes to class every once in a while. And, like most 22-year-olds, he's sorting out his life. "I'm kind of at this weird point where I'm figuring out a lot of stuff: What kind of career do I want to have? What films do I want to be in?" The slightly wan, chilled-out young actor says he's happy he has the luxury of being picky, choosing only projects that he truly cares about. "That's the way I look at it. I am 22, and as long as I can pay my rent and go get a drink at the bar with my friends, I'm not looking for quick fixes." So if, say, he were asked to be in the next X-Men movie, would he turn it down? "OK, well, that's a bad example, because I used to be a big X-Men fan."
Grooming by Paola Orlando for Artists by Timothy Priano using M.A.C Cosmetics
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