Quotes from Paul Dano

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

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.

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 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.

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.

I think was overly empathetic for a while in my life.

The only constant I can find is hard work.

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.

I would like to do something really big and then something really small, and see what it's like to work in that way, but in front of a live audience.

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

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.

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.

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

I think the idea is to try and understand everything about the characters and where the character is coming from, from their point of view, why they say what they do. And not, 'Oh, but I would never say that. Why does the character say that?' But then making it as personal as possible.

I'm not a big shopper. I'm a pretty simple dresser, and that's not my pleasure go-to thing, looking for clothes.

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

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

I'm very low-maintenance.