oh I was waiting for this moment
when I got the hiccups
[Music]
hey what's going on everybody for first
week Feast I'm Sean Evans and you're
watching hot ones it's the show with hot
questions and even hotter wings and
today we close out another season with
Paul Dano he's an actor you know from
acclaimed performances and films like
the Batman Little Miss Sunshine
prisoners There Will Be Blood and many
more you can also catch him in his role
as Burt fableman and Steven Spielberg's
new semi-autobiographical film the
fablements currently in theaters Paul
Dano welcome to the show hey man how's
it going uh it's going good I'm excited
I'm nervous nervous how are you around
spicy food before it started so I I like
spicy food I like you know I like
Szechuan food I like Indian food
um I don't eat a lot of wings with hot
sauce but you know I like spicy food
okay I had to cut back a couple years
ago I wasn't sleeping so well you know
the doctor said maybe the less spicy
food easier to cut back on a little
spicy food than it was on the wine so
right I chose to cut to cut back on the
spice but uh you know I'm I'm curious
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
do you just take a bite or do you try to
Chow the whole thing is there a is there
a um are there rules of the game there
you know what we're in the abstract over
here there are no rules to the game but
I kind of mirror the guess like wherever
you go I try to match whatever
experience you're bringing to this whole
thing yeah yeah
this is yummy this is nice yeah there we
go yeah yeah
imagine it was a uni singular experience
for an actor to play Steven Spielberg's
dad in a film directed by Steven
Spielberg how did you sort through the
metadness of that performance you know
working alongside a filmmaker as they
unpackaged their own life and artistic
Ambitions to work with him in itself I I
haven't been that nervous for a meeting
in a long time and I remember my wife
being like who are you meeting with you
know why are you acting this way and I
was like Steven Spielberg's just like
okay and then he tells me what it's
about in the first zoom and you know
when I first met Stephen his dad in only
past about eight months beforehand so
you could really see in his
in his eyes you know what he was talking
about and that really kind of made me
um you know made my heart sing I was
like oh wow Steven's got a lot on the
line here and he was an open book I mean
the family archives were available to us
home videos I mean photography you know
it was insane to be sort of let into
Stephen's heart and in his life in that
way I told Stephen on the last night of
filming would take me a few years yet to
fully process you know what what we all
just uh
did together and that that he would ask
me to play his dad you know
[Music]
it's yummy that's nice I can feel my you
know so I sweat when I eat anything okay
okay I think that's usually to do with
like quantity and paste though so we're
taking it easy
I especially sweat when I eat spicy food
so I'm curious curious where we'll go
here because I just felt the like the
Water Works before I had the scalp
you know yeah
[Music]
um
yeah it's happening it's happening yeah
it's coming yeah so you've been at this
for a long time beginning in adolescence
beyond the Broadway stage with Inherit
the Wind and then by the time you're 16
years old when in an independent Spirit
award for your performance and lie what
influence did Paul Schrader's book
transcendental style and film have on
you at a young age
okay all right nice
so I grew up I think when I wanted to be
an actor I think I thought it meant
being on stage I grip in Manhattan where
we are today
so I remember going to the theater when
I was a kid
in the movies I liked I was obsessed
with Jim Carrey when I was a kid but I'm
not that you know but that was like you
know I love Terminator 2 right and on
Halloween but like I'm not you know so
like I think Paul Schrader's book it
really opened the door to foreign film
which really just sort of opened the
door to like becoming like a movie dork
it opens up the language right like if
you you know you you try different hot
sauces and like the language of you know
a hot sauce the whole world opens up
right yeah yeah yeah so it's like just
the more you know
um you get around to I think the the the
yeah uh the more fun it becomes
[Laughter]
[Music]
this is the sauce you like I do like
this one you like this one
[Music]
but do you like it the question
it's good this is fun because you know
it's really um you uh start feeling
sparkly
right it changes you like
physiologically yeah you're going
through it and it's already starting
Paul it's already starting I feel
sparkly yeah
how did Nirvana is something in the way
like shape your interpretation of the
Riddler something in the way is a great
song and I listen to a lot of Nirvana
and but yeah that chorus for me was
it's like what are we all trying to you
know something in the way
what are we all trying to get through
you know
um and I think it's about the two sides
of trauma and one person had you know a
little more resources to deal with their
trauma Bruce Wayne and and my guy just
didn't quite have you know
um uh it didn't didn't have the nurture
but you probably didn't didn't have the
nature either if we're being real yeah
yeah all right are you ready to move on
here to Sauce number four you're doing
great by the way this one is the Los
Calientes Barbacoa okay
hmm
that weight was nice still crunching
[Music]
I like that one yeah so far these two
are probably the ones I would take home
of the floor I shouldn't say that we're
not gonna no you know what though we're
sending them all home with you anyway oh
it's fantastic can't wait to have a
couple friends over and sorry now you
guys no you don't yeah you should have
like a viewing party for your episode
have the friends over and see how they
match up you know to the control
experiment with you on the show yeah
yeah
um okay yeah yeah so that one's growing
still yeah yeah and who knows the
cumulative effect that we have going on
too you know who's to know yeah yeah you
know what's going on yeah it's happening
that's interesting though that one for
me so far has the longest after not even
the heat but just the taste just yeah
the whole thing the trail it leaves the
longest trail so far yeah
so I love this quote of yours some
characters lead from their chest or
their head more or their dick more
what's the difference or can you explain
the difference between a character who
would say lead with their chest versus
one that would lead with their dick
so right I mean well what do you how do
you interpret if somebody leaves with
their dick well so no really like you
know yeah yeah I think it's I think it
makes sense here's here's here's how it
aligns for me actually so we had Cate
Blanchett yeah earlier this year and she
was talking about how when she played
Bob Dylan the thing that snapped the
character in focus for her was just
putting like a heavy weighted sock
between her legs yeah yeah yeah you know
what I mean so it makes me think about
it in ways in which these like sort of
small things can like snap a character
into place and then that had a direct
dick connection and then I saw this
quote and I was like oh I wonder what
Paul's perspective on the whole thing is
yeah no that's absolutely it I mean it's
as simple as that it can be I mean and I
think physical is even better because
that kind of just gives it to you right
it's like wearing different shoes makes
me feel different right
this film prisoners was very much about
the opposite of that it was somebody who
was frozen you know trauma in the past
and so the body is
you know he carried his stuff in his
like up here more where somebody uh I
don't know I think it makes sense
without explaining it though no yeah
yeah well you know it's a actor thing
you know like it's a little bit in the
abstract like you know it is and I guess
that's why you you do it right because
it's
like it's just allowing some kind of
little access that maybe is actually not
meant to be like intellectualized and
overly articulated it's more like oh
like rather than look let's just go
there to the to whatever physical
component you know feels helpful
makes sense to me yeah are you ready to
move on here yeah you're at the halfway
point already okay you're crushing it oh
this one's Wiley yeah so it's oil-based
sauce here with flyby J
thank you
foreign
peppercorn
when you get through oh yeah yeah when
you get the real you know peppercorn
that tongue thing that happens but this
one and it's because the oil my lips are
yeah you know feeling it
where does performing you still believe
in me alongside Al Jardine and Brian
Wilson where does that fall on your list
of musical accomplishments nice okay
yeah that was pretty cool I mean I love
that song I chose it they said what
Sonia was singing for some reason that
track really gets me I think it's the
second track on Pet Sounds I don't know
if I can remember this point but maybe
my favorite experience I've had as an
actor uh love and mercy and I think it's
because of the music you know I was
nervous but I think it went went well
enough uh Brian was a super sweetie to
me is it true that you met bong Joon ho
when he was jumping up and down in the
crowd at a show that your band was
performing at in Brooklyn
uh actually yeah it is so so I was a big
fan of his
um he had a film called Memories of
murder quite some time ago
2003 I can't remember the exact year
it's incredible it's fine
and then he was in New York to promote
his film called mother so this is like
2008 2009 maybe 2010 and uh I had a
friend who knew him
and was at his screening and then they
were like oh we're gonna go see Paul
play afterwards and I was playing and I
saw a large Korean man dancing in the
back of the room
and it turned out to be bong who I was a
huge fan of and we got to hang out
afterwards and then we started like a
pen pal relationship
and then eventually a few years later
like we got together when he was in
Brooklyn once and he showed me a drawing
of a pig man this is gonna be this movie
you know and I was like that just the
drawing of the pig I was like that's
you know I'm there like the I mean I was
just like bawling in a pig like yeah
like so yeah for sure you know
um so yeah that's a that's a fun memory
all right are you ready to move on here
yeah to Sauce number six back half this
is the turmeric bomb
okay
chocolate ghost pepper
[Music]
yeah that one's different yeah yeah okay
and kind of another level you know yeah
I'm definitely feeling on the back of
the throat more mm-hmm yeah definitely
and in the front scratcher the front too
yeah from all sides you're getting warm
yeah it's coming
um
this is more fun than I thought I'm like
okay I mean I know we're gonna be
hurting yeah but like okay
so far it survived well it's fun to like
really taste it right and not just have
it be about me looking silly yeah yeah
yeah
so there's a really nice comment and the
Paul Dano breaks down his most iconic
character segment that you did for GQ
which reads Paul Dano has one of the
best curatorial instincts in the
industry it's a good sign when you see
his name on a poster not just because
you know how crushed the performance but
also because he picks the best movies to
star in I know this question is a bit in
the abstract but how would you best
describe the science behind picking and
sequencing roles for yourself
well that's nice I didn't hear that
before somebody said so somebody said
that that's nice
um
I think I'm just always really gotten
off though on like the whole thing
meaning
then it's not just about the character
and not just about me but it's like who
are you in it with what are you making
and are you excited to like potentially
see that but I do think even when I was
younger I would probably lean towards
frankly if maybe even a smaller part if
I thought the thing was really
and I don't know why except that that
was me
I don't know that it always felt good or
sane or like a way to build a career or
something
so after doing the Batman first of all
Stephen had asked me to do anything I
would have done it but like the fact
that Bert is so different from The
Riddler
it was like what I needed a gear shift
yeah right like that's good for me it's
like okay I've done this you know uh
more operatic uh you know psycho thing
and now this like really contained
decent you know that I couldn't dream up
like it just luckily worked out that way
it's it's like uh I don't know if you
get this sometimes you get this when I
eat like a lot of sushi like really good
raw fish yeah or there's like a
slight High
listen yeah yeah I almost think that's
like why I'm still doing the show 1960
yeah I'm like chasing the dragon with
that kind of like hot sauce head high
that you get yeah yeah yeah so that's
that's what I was like get a little like
this feeling yeah yeah it's kind of a
Vibe yeah yeah that's good it feels nice
it's really it's nice
the cosmic disco good label
wow
once you've taken that breath
I like your hand rub after every bite
that you take no
observe it I know but
that's good that's getting that's
getting somewhere yeah we're getting uh
granular over here but yeah that's
yeah
it's getting good and I think like it's
funny because I was kind of it has a
sweetness up front yeah oh you gotta
remember
okay it's getting there yeah you kind of
forget
you kind of forget and then it has that
sweetness up front so you almost like oh
it does forget about it it's all in the
back and then it's all the tip of my
tongue is back loaded
it's getting there
so I've always been intrigued by an
actor's transition to directing a leap
that you made in 2018 with your
directorial debut Wildlife how would you
define like a good actor's director like
are there qualities that you tried to
absorb from directors that you enjoyed
working with in the past to help inform
your approach when you took the seat
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you know
for sure and that's uh yeah that's um
uh that's one of the advantages as a
quote first-time director that I really
had right I've seen how people do it and
you can take you know you take something
for the road with you and you're like oh
oh yeah that's it's tingly yeah yeah
um I think one of the things I was most
looking forward to about directing was
creating like how I wanted my set to
feel I always call it like a temperature
like each set has a different
temperature
I really like when you walk from your
trailer to A set and you can feel like
the energy change you know maybe
sometimes you bring that but I think
with certain directors you know it's
like uh and There Will Be Blood like you
know that that set at a temperature and
that's a good feeling
and I mean I can feel my nose dripping I
brought a book rag I brought my kids
burp Rag and in case I needed it well
it's a good thing you did apparently
yeah okay
and you might need it
for this next one yeah which is the bomb
Beyond Insanity homeless is here every
year
look how observant you are yeah every
single year I kept it around yeah it's
the one and you'll see why
I know this is one of the ones that I
want my uh beloved
publicist over here to try right you
know what that doesn't happen enough
that doesn't happen enough when guests
come in you know all right oh diamond
right in
okay that one's pretty good
I mean
wow
there you go it's happening oh man you
know we're talking about like the tails
before like this one I feel like just
leaves scorched Earth you know
[Music]
I was waiting for this moment
when I got the hiccups
oh I know I know
so director bong Joon ho once joked that
Korean movie audiences come to celebrate
you for your strong chin and there are
more than just a few viral Super Cuts
with titles like Paul Dano gets beat up
a lot what are the Hallmarks of a good
fight sequence in your opinion like is
there a real art to getting slapped
around on camera
this movie called night and day
and Tom Cruise isn't it
[Music]
should we no
no does it I mean you're the pro you and
I want you said you were gonna mirror me
you reached for this first you know what
though I did it instinctively you know
what I mean I did that yeah
[Music]
well that felt nice in the moment let's
see we'll see what happens now because
it's already coming back but okay
so Cruz cruise we gotta talk about Crews
so
watching him do stunts was truly
an informative moment because I saw
how much he thought about what the
audience is going to feel
and literally the impact they're going
to feel
what is like felt and that's the beauty
of those Mission Impossible movies right
compared to the CGI Fest you feel those
stunts right no even like Top Gun like
him actually getting in the jet you know
and flying that around I think it's
fantastic like you feel it and he's
working hard to give that to you
so it's the first time I think I really
because again I was probably I came more
from like all right my first film was an
indie drama like whatever like I was
like okay like that's the art you know
it's like whoa okay Cruise you know
I mean I feel it on the outside of my
mouth yeah where's uh where's the head
high at at this point you know that's
different yeah I think
I think this one kind of grounded me a
little bit
and just kind of really was about the
the the more physical physiology yeah
[Music]
so it gets worse
let's see you need garlic
Sean don't be afraid to wait there you
go I'm waiting for you I don't mean to
make yourself conscious about
I'm right here with you right here with
you
oh
yeah we got it we got it between films
like okja and swiss army man what would
you say is the seminal fart scene of
your movie career there aren't many
actors who can credibly answer Sean I've
always been one of that to be asked this
question when people say to me is there
anything that we haven't asked that
you'd like us to I always think
wish they would ask me about
what my most important fart on camera is
yeah
the opening of Swiss army man is
definitely one of my favorite scenes
that I've gotten to film
you know the the intent was in the first
fart make you laugh and the last fart
make you cry
and I thought my God
we could do that now I don't know that
we did but I thought well if you're
going to work towards something in your
life
that's that's something to work towards
now am I forgetting because you
mentioned other things am I forgetting
about other film filled film farts
because of course the first thing I
think of well you know what it's
actually I do have a follow-up because
you know I apologize for this line of
question but in a 2007 interview with
playbill you called your biggest onstage
mishap a rather audible fart I let go
but was able to use it in a scene do you
happen to remember that production I
mean it was a 15 year old interview Sean
I just try to use you know what's
happening in the moment you know uh but
also like yeah that's fine I mean you
know we I've got a four-year-old so
tooting is a big point of humor in our
house
right you know it's like a through line
you know you know it's followed you from
your career to home yeah yeah yeah yeah
where it belongs
so this one you pour
[Music]
I think I got finish off my look though
oh yeah she's got a whole oh they're
sweating too much
let's get it really okay
all right extra sauce here we go so pour
it on the wood that's what I do you know
I've messed up going straight to Wing
too many times
okay I'm gonna dab that nice little
that corner of the wing there and I
guess we really go for it huh let's go
for it you know it's the finale all
right
[Music]
all right and then this one kind of nice
up front little peppery a little bit
weird but then nice long tail oh I have
my time to lay it I know yeah yeah I
know and again what's this it's I feel
it on the outside of my face yeah yeah I
have a full numbing of the lips yeah but
somehow yeah we've made it through this
winding spice journey together we've
talked about your commitment to prep
you're rigorous approach to every role
but I imagine being an actor sometimes
is like taking on the wings of death is
analytical as much of a plan as you can
have when it all comes down to it
sometimes you just gotta jump in and
take a bite throw caution to the wind
so to close things out with your brain
on fire your mouth Ablaze how much of
the acting experience in your opinion is
just being able to say [ __ ] it when the
director says action oh that's great and
you know what it's true like man
I do not think the first thing I want to
do is embarrass myself but you have to
be willing to embarrass yourself it's
just like you know it's like [ __ ] you
just might embarrass yourself you really
you know that's it and lesson learned I
mean I've been doing this for a while
and Steven's film last year there were
times when
I would just have to say
I'm just gonna have to do it on actually
you know like you know and and you just
it's gonna come out you just have to
trust you know because you do all this
work some of that is I mean it's all
going towards it some of it is frankly
like you're just trying to build up a
reservoir of stuff to let out but you
you know confidence too it's like okay
I'm Bert you know and whatever it takes
for you to believe that
but yeah you just kind of ultimately
have to let go and it's taking me a long
time to get to that place of of trusting
like
something will come out today Paul and
let's go
let's go hopefully let it out let it
happen and you know what something was
let out today oh coming in here taking
on the hot ones Gauntlet and putting an
exclamation point on season 19. now
there's nothing left to do but roll out
the red carpet for you this camera this
camera this camera let the people know
what you have going on in your life
like like in my life right now like Paul
personally or like movies and stuff yeah
okay I got a baby uh uh uh no uh yeah
yeah see the I mean the fableness man I
think Stevens is I think it's really
good I really like it I think I think
you should check it out that's it
good job all right I'm gonna have
another sip of this yeah
really fun good and good questions
thorough I like it you get people in a
vulnerable place and ask a real question
I try to try to get something out of me
yeah
[Music]
thank you so much for watching today's
video and hot ones fans I have a very
exciting announcement the hot ones Shake
Shack collab is finally here the hot
ones cheese fries the hot ones Burger
the hot ones chicken all made with a
shack sauce that includes hot ones the
classic along with the last dab it's
very spicy it's very delicious and it's
available for a limited time now through
the end of the year at Shake Shacks
Nationwide and via the Shake Shack app
be careful around your eyes and don't
forget to order a milkshake
[Music]