This post was written by Sean Flanagan, who is filling in for Verena...
I hate Paul Dano, straight up. I’m sorry, kid's a douchebag.
I have had the unfortunate experience of sharing two classrooms with Paul Dano, star of There Will Be Blood and other recent hits. The kid is a shitbag, and film classes at Eugene Lang College in New York? Not exactly the biggest stressor I have ever encountered. More like, if you have seen enough movies, you have the basis to geek out and talk about it.
Paul Dano, though, sucked the life out of the room. Then when he had to do reshoots for Little Miss Sunshine, he was forced to skip finals. Not only was he passed along, with his finals taken care of for him, he got several EXTRA credits for being a working professional.
Another semester, roughly one year later, it happened again. Instead of midterms or attending class, he had to go to L.A. for the Academy Awards.
Then the Nylon (for Guys) article came out. Maybe the writer is a shit, but it begins in the largest sense of douche I’ve ever read:
A street corner in New York’s unassuming Tompkins Square Park isn’t the first place one would expect an actor to suggest meeting for an interview, but then, Paul Dano isn’t what you would expect of an actor.
Seriously. Hipster Manhattan Bar zone... is a surprise? They go on to meet in… a coffee shop. And discuss the pressures of impending fame.
Now, Paul Dano has added another modern film “genius” to his resume: Ang Lee is joining the roster of Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, Todd Solondz and Richard Linklater.
Taking Woodstock is the next film, A comedic period piece (what Ang Lee seems to do best) regarding how the famous Woodstock festival came to be.
Rolling Stone defines it as being the true story of
Elliot Tiber [Demitri Martin], who inadvertently played a pivotal role in Woodstock when he offered his family’s Catskills hotel to organizers as a home base, while his neighbor Max Yasgur (Eugene Levy) offered his farm”
I was supposed to work on this film. The day I didn’t get it, Paul Dano was cast. Meanwhile, Todd Solondz was about to cast a friend of mine in his next film, Life During Wartime; he went with Paul Dano. Dano has worked with, and quite often sucked the oxygen away from some of my favorite actors (Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams come to mind.)
So, Paul Dano, who has also joined a band in apparent lack of ability to express himself, you are my archenemy. You are joining the ranks of Gwen Paltrow and Morgan Freeman. Stay out of my way and don’t career cock block me and I will try to stop telling everyone I meet how useless of a human being you are.
DISCLAIMER: I am aware that a fraction of this anger is jealousy. I would love to have his career and work with the people he has met. However, I also do not think he has deserved all of these blessings and would rather give these chances to an actor like Ben Foster.
DISCLAIMER #2: Opinions of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Scanner bloggers, Hooksexup, or the world at large.
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