The exact moment modern cinema collapsed on itself, according to Paul Dano: “A big misstep”
You can’t help but feel for Paul Dano, for one thing, he’s got that round, kind of sad-looking, adorable face, and for another, he seemed happy quietly making his low-budget arty films about flatulent aquatic corpses, not bothering anyone, when out of nowhere Quentin Tarantino decided to tell the world he didn’t think he was a very good actor.
Dano hadn’t done anything to Quentin, and it seemed a completely random barb for the legendary director to throw at someone who hadn’t ever made a film with him, but alongside Scooby Doo’s Matthew Lillard, Tarantino attacked him regardless.
So the idea that there might be common ground between Dano and Tarantino might seem unlikely, but in fact, there is something that the pair agree entirely on, and that is that neither of them are big fans of superhero movies. Tarantino, for one, rather like Martin Scorsese, feels that those big Marvel blockbusters are over-reliant on CGI, and that the characters like Captain America or Iron Man become the movie stars rather than the actors playing them.
As for Dano, he is not quite as full on in his opinion of superhero epics, after all he was in 2022’s The Batman reboot starring Robert Pattinson as The Riddler, but he does think that the current deluge of different movies and spin-offs might be at saturation point, telling The Independent: “It’s an interesting moment where everybody has to go like, ‘OK – what now?’ Hopefully from that, somebody either breathes new life into [comic book movies], or something else blossoms which is not superheroes. I’m sure there will still be some good ones yet to come, but I think it’s kind of a welcome moment.”
Dano also reckons that a shift in naming terms made a difference too, adding: “As soon as the word ‘content’ came into what we do – meaning making movies or TV – it meant quantity over quality, which I think was a big misstep. And I certainly don’t need that as a viewer or as an artist.”
Even when Dano does deign to do what might be considered more mainstream stuff – a Netflix movie with Adam Sandler, for instance- it happens to be a strange one like 2024’s Spaceman, where Dano plays a sentient giant spider who doles out life advice to Sandler while floating around in Orbit. Mostly, it seems Dano is happier doing weirder arty fare that flies under the radar.
Most recently, it was announced he’s going to be playing one of the lead roles opposite Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner in a remake of Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession from 1981, which absolutely does not need remaking and is an amazing film that people should just watch and be done with.
He’ll also be joining a host of big names for a film called Bunker, about an architect creating a safe space for a tech billionaire, alongside Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz (who should win an Oscar nomination for The Invite by the way) and our very own Stephen Graham.
There’s no confirmation as to whether or not Dano will reprise his Riddler role in The Batman II as yet, though, with his character safely locked away in Arkham Asylum after the first instalment. The next film, directed by Matt Reeves, isn’t due in cinemas until late next year.
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