{"id":273729,"date":"2025-12-08T15:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T04:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.russh.com\/?p=273729"},"modified":"2025-12-08T14:07:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T03:07:29","slug":"best-paul-dano-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.russh.com\/best-paul-dano-films\/","title":{"rendered":"In defence of Paul Dano: we look back at his 10 best films"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet has been awash with commentary and debate this week after some unsavoury comments from director Quentin Tarantino on last week’s episode of\u00a0 The <\/em>Brett Easton Ellis podcast<\/em>. The director was revealing his 20 favourite films of the 21st century<\/a>, which included Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s 2007 flick There Will Be Blood<\/em>, starring Dano as charismatic preacher, Eli Sunday. Tarantino said of his pick: “There Will Be Blood<\/em> would stand a good chance at being #1 or #2 if it didn\u2019t have a big, giant flaw in it\u2026 and the flaw is Paul Dano. Obviously, it\u2019s supposed to be a two-hander, but it\u2019s also drastically obvious that it\u2019s not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He\u2019s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest f*cking actor in SAG [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, the entire of Hollywood came to Dano’s defence. Toni Colette posted a film still of Dano in their film Little Miss Sunshine\u00a0<\/em>to her Instagram Story in solidarity, while Maya Rudolph (wife of the social media-less director Paul Thomas Anderson<\/a>) also posted a film still of Dano from\u00a0There Will Be Blood\u00a0<\/em>to her Instagram story. No captions needed.<\/p>\n

Personally, I’ve been a loud and proud Dano fan for years. He’s an actor with incredible range and originality \u2013 whether he’s sadistic and deranged as\u00a0The Batman<\/em>‘s Riddler, or a stubborn teenager taking a vow of silence in\u00a0Little Miss Sunshine<\/em>. And now feels like the perfect time to discuss openly our favourite Paul Dano films. Because man, does this guy deserve an Oscar.<\/p>\n

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1.\u00a0Little Miss Sunshine\u00a0<\/em>(2006)<\/h3>\n

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Most conversations about Paul Dano’s acting begin here. He was just 21 years old while filming this Oscar-winning Indie flick alongside and adorable Abigail Breslin, Steve Carrel and Toni Colette. It’s a pretty stacked lineup to go up against, and yet he entirely holds his own. In fact, I would argue he steals the entire film \u2013 not only by acting entirely without words for the majority of it (he plays Dwayne, whose teenage angst about wanting to become a fighter pilot has led him to a vow of silence), but because of one penultimate moment in particular. If you’ve seen the film already, you know exactly what I’m talking about. When Dwayne realises he’s colour blind and will never be able to live out his dream, his panic and heart-breaking screams on the side of the road were haunting.<\/p>\n

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2.\u00a0There Will Be Blood\u00a0<\/em>(2007)<\/h3>\n

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The very next year, Dano upped the ante again though. Starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood <\/em>opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. Playing a charismatic preacher (and his twin) Eli and Paul Sunday, Dano is brilliant, fiery. He was originally cast to play the lesser part of Paul, but ended up playing both brothers when the script was rewritten for the boys to be twins (and the original actor dropped out). He received a BAFTA nomination despite only having days to prepare for the role, and it was largely considered his Hollywood breakthrough.<\/p>\n

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3. The Batman\u00a0<\/em>(2022)<\/h3>\n

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This was the movie where I really noticed Dano as a bonafide scene-stealer. Being a Batman villain can’t be an easy task (especially opposite Zo\u00eb Kravitz<\/a> and Robert Pattinson, or in the wake of legends like Heath Ledger), but Dano did it justice and looked seriously deranged and terrifying in the process. His politicised, incel take on a classic Riddler character was impressive \u2013 smug, confident, brutal, easily provoked.<\/p>\n

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4.\u00a0Okja\u00a0<\/em>(2017)<\/h3>\n

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We already knew Dano could do funny (we’d seen him in\u00a0Little Miss Sunshine<\/em>), but we didn’t know he could take it to this level. Bong Joon Ho’s Netflix feature is a whirlwind sci-fi about animal rights, climate change<\/a> and morality at large \u2013 and Dano somehow stands his ground as Jay, the charismatic leader of a super-work PETA-like organisation tasked with rescuing the film’s namesake creature from slaughter.<\/p>\n

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5. The Fabelmans<\/em> (2022)<\/h3>\n

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What screams movie star more than leading a Steven Spielberg film? Dano essentially played Spielberg’s own dad in The Fabelmans<\/em>, a semi-autobiographical 1950s-set film chronicling the director’s own coming-of-age story about his early life, focusing on aspiring teenage filmmaker Sammy Fabelman. The film was nominated for a slew of Academy Awards and had reviewers oft noting Dano and Williams’ “Oscar-worthy” chemistry on screen.<\/p>\n

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6. Love and Mercy<\/em>\u00a0(2014)<\/h3>\n

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Playing a young Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys fame, Dano committed (once again) to the role wholeheartedly \u2013 even gaining 35 pounds for it. We see Dano act out one of music’s greatest feats \u2013 as Wilson sets about creating Pet Sounds<\/em>, his masterpiece. Dano captures the electricity of a genius at work, and\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>even called the performance a “career-best for him”.<\/p>\n

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7. Dumb Money\u00a0<\/em>(2023)<\/h3>\n

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If you ever needed proof that Dano thrives in real-world chaos just as well as fictional madness, Dumb Money<\/em> is it. As Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty), the unlikely figurehead of the GameStop stock market frenzy, Dano taps into a very specific kind of awkward, obsessive charm. There\u2019s a sweetness to his performance that stops the film from becoming cynical \u2013 he never plays Gill as a power-hungry mastermind, but rather as a slightly nerdy guy who genuinely believes in what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

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8. Prisoners\u00a0<\/em>(2013)<\/h3>\n

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Dark, bleak, brutal \u2013 and proof that Dano excels in psychological thrillers long before The Batman<\/em>. In Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners<\/em>, he plays Alex Jones, a socially stunted suspect in the disappearance of two young girls. It\u2019s an almost unbearable performance to watch at times \u2013 eerily vacant, vulnerable, unsettling, and laced with an undercurrent of dread that seeps into every scene he\u2019s in. The less you know going in, the better. But suffice to say, this is one of his most disturbing and transformative roles.<\/p>\n

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9. Swiss Army Man\u00a0<\/em>(2016)<\/h3>\n

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Undeniably the strangest entry on this list \u2013 and one of the bravest. As Hank, a deeply lonely man stranded on a deserted island who befriends a multi-functional corpse (Daniel Radcliffe of all people), Dano lets himself be completely open, awkward and emotionally exposed. The film is weird in a way that only true cult cinema ever is (the directors, the Daniels, also went on to write Everything Everywhere All At Once \u2013 <\/em>so you know the vibe), but beneath the absurdity is a mostly devastating meditation on isolation, shame and what it means to be human.<\/p>\n

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10. Ruby Sparks\u00a0<\/em>(2012)<\/h3>\n

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The most unsettling romantic lead, Ruby Sparks<\/em> starts out as a whimsical indie love story about a writer who magically brings his dream girl to life \u2014 and slowly mutates into something far more uncomfortable and psychologically layered. Dano plays Calvin with boyish charm at first, but gradually unravels into insecurity, control and entitlement. It\u2019s one of his most unnerving performances precisely because it\u2019s so real. No monsters, no villains in masks \u2013 just a deeply flawed man with too much power over someone he claims to love.<\/p>\n

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