Credit: Far Out / Paramount Vantage / Lionsgate / Warner Bros

Five scenes that prove Paul Dano’s acting genius

Thu 2 October 2025 17:15, UK

Paul Dano’s always been a brilliant actor, but it still feels like he doesn’t get the credit he properly deserves.

Sure, when he puts in a standout performance – and the critics usually say so – but the truth is, he’s easily one of the best of his generation. You can see his love for proper, meaningful cinema in pretty much everything he does.

You can tell when an actor actually doesn’t know that much about their craft, but Dano is a full-blown cinephile, and it’s rare that you’ll see him in a movie that feels like a mere Hollywood cash grab. His performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood seemed to kickstart it all – he was just 22 years old, but no one could ignore the maturity and sheer talent he brought to the dual role.

He held his own against a 50-year-old Daniel Day-Lewis, who is widely regarded as one of the best Hollywood has to offer, so that’s really saying something. But that’s not the only movie that Dano should be praised for, of course. He’s the victim of Hugh Jackman’s terrifying rage in Prisoners, plays into the toxic male writer trope in Ruby Sparks, turns super villainous in The Batman, and even lugs a dead body (played by Daniel Radcliffe, no less) around in Swiss Army Man.

Dano’s range is incredibly versatile, so here are five great scenes that demonstrate his genius acting abilities.

Five scenes that prove Paul Dano’s acting genius:

You can’t fly jets if you’re colour-blind – ‘Little Miss Sunshine’

Relatively early into Dano’s career, he appeared in Little Miss Sunshine, a charming indie tragi-comedy that saw Alan Arkin walk away with an Oscar for playing a foul-mouthed yet well-meaning grandfather.

Forced to listen to Arkin’s sex advice is the moody teenager Dwayne, who has committed to a vow of silence until he can get his pilot’s license. Unfortunately, this dream is soon crushed when he discovers he is actually colour-blind and therefore unable to ever fly a plane.

Dano spends half the movie dialogue-less, but here, he finally talks, but not before frantically banging on the inside of the van in a silent plea to get out of the vehicle. Once he’s outside, he runs onto some grass, screaming into his hands and crying in despair, and it’s absolutely devastating.

The actor’s ability to convey so much panic without making a sound is impressive – his whole life’s plan has come crashing right down – yet when that ultimate release comes in the form of Dwayne’s helpless screams, Dano’s versatility is fully displayed.

Bathroom sequence – ‘Prisoners’

The bathroom interrogation sequence in Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is not for the faint of heart.

It’s an anxiety-inducing masterclass in tension-building, buoyed by Hugh Jackman’s rage, which sees him repeatedly punch Dano’s Alex before bringing out a hammer. Sure, Jackman’s performance is incredible here, but the scene also highlights the amazing subtlety of Dano’s approach, which sees him initially fail to react while Jackman is screaming in his face.

However, the fear sets in as the punches come and serious injury seems inevitable, although Dano’s character refuses to say anything. Covered in blood, he is thrown against the wall before Jackman smashes the sink next to him with the hammer. Dano looks genuinely scared by this point, sinking down into the corner and cowering against Jackman’s fearless aggression. It’s a tightly executed scene, and while Jackman’s performance is worthy of all the praise, Dano’s quiet expressions are just as genius.

The Riddler Interrogation – ‘The Batman’

Dano isn’t the kind of star you can imagine in a Marvel movie – his choices have always leaned towards intense and genuinely artful productions. However, he evidently doesn’t mind a superhero movie when there’s a bit more substance to it, which is why he accepted the part of The Riddler in the darkly brooding 2022 film The Batman.

Here, Dano was allowed to fully immerse himself in the act of being a pure villain, and he gives his all to the character who looks strikingly normal, which is the most unnerving part.

He’s unhinged, and yeah, sometimes his outbursts almost tip into something funny – but Dano always pulls it back, landing right in that sweet spot of unsettling. The interrogation scene with Pattinson’s Batman is a proper showcase – he flips through emotions like a switch, and it’s that unpredictability that makes it so gripping to watch.

Exorcism – ‘There Will Be Blood’

Paul Thomas Anderson cast Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood when he was still the fresh-faced youngster of Little Miss Sunshine, but he certainly saw the potential in the actor to star opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in an intense drama about capitalistic greed.

In fact, he gave Dano two parts as identical twins, Paul and Eli, with the latter often conning the locals in his role as a manipulative priest. The sequence in which Eli performs an exorcism is one of the film’s most unforgettable moments, and Dano’s ability to act purely unhinged revealed him to be capable of so much more than many critics were expecting.

The way Dano commands the room as this crafty preacher is really something to behold, and he really leans into the ridiculousness of his scam, which everyone seems to believe. He acts as though he has become possessed, screaming and shaking as he repeats, “Get out of here, ghost!”. It’s odd because, on the one hand, you feel as though you can see straight through him, but on the other, he still feels utterly convincing. Dano’s performance is utterly and confusingly perfect here.

God Only Knows – ‘Love and Mercy’

Musical biopics can be a tough nut to crack, because what you don’t want is for the performance to come across as mere caricature. Luckily, Dano absolutely mastered his interpretation of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys leader whose musical innovations single handedly changed music.

Love and Mercy, released in 2014, saw Dano gain some weight and sport a rather unflattering haircut to play the iconic musician, and in one incredible scene, he clashes with his jealous father when he tries to play him a bare-bones demo of ‘God Only Knows’, also known as one of the greatest songs ever made.

He starts off at the piano, singing with a voice that’s a bit rough round the edges – but as the music builds and his passion starts to shine through, the scene becomes something properly special. His dad’s not having it, though, brushing it off as “too wishy-washy”. Brian’s clearly gutted, and Dano captures that mix of frustration, helplessness, and sadness spot on.