Paul Dano: 'I'm Just a Glutton For Punishment'

What New York is this that we're looking at in The Good Heart? It's kind of a fantasy, but it speaks to a very specific culture.

PD: New York is kind of a mythological city in may ways. I wanted to sort of have that element without being flashy about it. It's sort of an old-fashioned, gritty New york that's inspired by Midnight Cowboy -- that '70s element of New York. Basically we don't see much more than a couple of alleyways, but I wanted you to see that took place in New York -- not in Toronto or Philadelphia or wherever.

Paul, as a New Yorker, what did this city represent to you?

PD: I thought it was sort of a romantic idea. Maybe it's because I'm young, but the idea of this bar just sounds fantastic to me, you know?

It's like some kind of postmodern, misanthropic cheers.

PD: To me it had a sense of a kind of Tom Waits or Charles Bukowski setting. I felt like it's supposed to have a certain out-of-time quality. It's not the bars around here. I like that. I wish I had that bar to go to. I don't.

Except your character changes that bar -- the mood, the appearance, and he even brings a woman in for the first time. Would you want someplace to make an impression? Or to keep it as it is?

PD: I don't know. I just want a place with a duck walking around, you know. I guess the idea of camaraderie and family... but listen: Would I want to be hanging out with Jacques regularly? No. But I like the idea of it?

Where did these characters come from?

DK: Well, Jacques is kind of based on a character I know in Iceland. I'd always been fascinated by people who allow themselves to be so rude and irritated and foul-mouthed and hostile, but usually you can sense there's something vulnerable beneath them -- a shield they use to protect that vulnerable side. Finally when they expose that soft spot, it's kind of touching. Often people who have these traits are lovable to me. Lucas is like that, but it's the total opposite: Some people are too open totally lack that protection. They haven't developed attitudes to protect themselves, and often life can be tough on these people because everything goes straight in.

Paul, you play a father for the first time in your upcoming film For Ellen. What was that like?

PD: I don't know what to say about the movie, but... It was hard. It was really hard. I don't think I'm ready for it. It was very scary for the character, and I found it equally scary. You're so disarmed around children, and I play a guy who is really kind of a selfish prick. He found himself disarmed around this girl, and I did, too. Acting
goes out the window. If you're walking down the street with them, you've got to make sure they're OK. So it's a great kind of bullsh*t protector on the acting process. I wasn't worried about my next line; I was worried about taking care of this little girl on the set in this small town. I just got done doing that, though; I don't have a lot of perspective on it except that he's not a very good father.

What can you tell me about Knight & Day? What compelled you to jump into a summer blockbuster with Tom Cruise?

PD: Dude, Tom Cruise, man! It's a fun part that I have, and I felt that I needed to do something different. Honestly, I was really excited to work with Tom Cruise. It's a different kind of role, a different kind of thing -- dipping my toe in a new pond...

What is your role? Your character doesn't even have a name.

PD: I can't really say a lot about it. It's kind of a plot point. You know those movies where what the audience knows and doesn't know is kind of important? It's spies, it's secrets. That kind of thing.

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