Q&A: PAUL DANO

Dano plays Brian Wilson in Beach Boys movie Love & Mercy

Paul Dano, 30, brings intensity to every role, whether playing it’s near-mute ( Little Miss Sunshine) or with an unearthly dose of fire and brimstone ( There Will Be Blood, 12 Years a Slave). Now he tackles the life story of Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy, portraying the Beach Boy in the mid-1960s, when he composed and produced the band’s legendary album Pet Sounds and began suffering nervous breakdowns.

Paul, how do you play roles like this without slipping into caricature? I don’t think I ever worry about [that]. Brian is incredibly sensitive; I don’t think he built up that extra layer of skin people do when they become adults. I lived the part for six months, and still think the closest I got to him was through his music.

Which you learned to sinsing and play. Was that arduous? No, it was joyful. My God, to sit down at ththe piano every day and try to learn a Brian Wilson song was some oof the most fun I’ve ever had preparinpreparing for a part.

And you filmed scenes aat EastWest, the HollywooHollywood location where Pet Sounds was rrecorded. And in, I think, the first wweek of filming! All the musicians played – and I sang and played – live. The energy was amazing. It feltfe really alive, and I think it comecomes across in those scenes. Nichola Nicholas Fonseca

Love & Mercy State TheaTheatre, Sun Jun 7, 6.30pm; Event CinCinemas George St, Tue Jun 9, 6.16.15pm; Cremorne, Thu Jun 11, 88.30pm. Opens in cinemas Thu JunJu 25. The Irish heartthrob stars in a stylish, action-packed, NZ-made western Slow West, playing a bounty hunter who acts as bodyguard to a naïve Scottish youth. State Theatre, Thu Jun 4, 6.15 & Fri Jun 5, noon; Casula, Fri Jun 5, 7.30pm; Cremorne, Mon Jun 8, 6.15pm. In She’s Funnynny That Way, Wilson is a Broadway director who tries to help a sex worker (Imogen Poots) make it as an actor. Quentinentin Tarantino makes an appearance as himself. Event Cinemas George St, Thuhu Jun 4, 8.30pm; Cremorne, Sunun Jun 7, 8.35pm.