The co-star Paul Dano was forbidden from interacting with: “It was risky in some ways”
In 2006, Paul Dano burst onto the scene in Little Miss Sunshine after spending a handful of years in the industry flying under the radar.
Not a decade later, in 2014, the actor would be trusted with taking on the leader of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, in the music biopic, Love & Mercy.
Though it was a tremendous role by any means, Dano only had half of the movie to prove his prowess. The film splits Wilson’s life into two distinct timelines to exaggerate the kinds of ailments Wilson dealt with, such as creative tensions, early onset schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations. Who else would play Wilson number two but John Cusack?
My favourite film of Cusack’s is one particularly early in his career, where a naive, baby-faced brunette boy joyfully tackles the edges of suicidal paranoia in Better Off Dead as an absurdist response to the terrifying trials and tribulations of high school. But when the opportunity to get involved in Love & Mercy came around, Cusack had aged out of that kind of role. A squeaky-clean Wilson was ready to learn everything he could from the Sixteen Candles star.
And yet, Wilson was separated by the industry titan from the very first day. Films, by their very nature, bend the logic of life; memories can be revisited in full-bodied fashion, and chronological narrative arcs can be upturned in favour of a more cathartic viewing experience.
However, Wilson and Cusack decided to obey the temporal laws of real life on the set of the music biopic. It would be impossible for a real-life Wilson, in his old age, to meet his younger self: So too did the committed actors keep themselves separate.
This separation persisted until Dano’s very last day on set, which happened to be Cusack’s first: “We didn’t meet until he was on his first day, and I was on my last day. It was sort of like two separate films being made almost. Bill [Pohlad] suggested we don’t collaborate, which showed great trust in both of us,” Dano recalled to Awards Daily.
Usually, actors want to engorge on every part of the movie they can, as a way to understand and build a full-bodied, fully fleshed portrayal of their character. As such, this red tape made Dano anxious: “I thought at the time that it was risky in some ways,” he admitted, “but the juxtaposition is part of trying to capture such a complicated human being.”
Dano revealed, “To have somebody at the peak of their creative joy in the studio and then see somebody else who’s so lost, I think there’s a lot of strength in that juxtaposition.”
Dano was only familiar with his own interpretation of the star and waited with bated breath to meet the coveted actor who would pick up where he left off. Like studious children who went above and beyond on their homework, the two eventually melded their brains together when they met: “When we did meet, we geeked out about Smile and both thought that was the gateway between the two characters. It felt right,” Dano recalled.
As the audience, it’s fair to say that this unorthodox approach worked wonders.
