Paul Dano Quotes

I write a melody and then change it and change it until I get it the way I like it.

I tend to write and record things quite quickly. You can tamper with things for years, and it's artistic laziness sometimes.

I do a lot of editing and switching around and putting little pieces together to get the right mood and personality, and it takes me forever to get a song finished.

I love the magic of the studio.

Producing is just a big learning experience.

I try to do as much as I can, every facet of filmmaking.

Writing the songs and producing the songs and arranging them and recording them is your canvas and your palette and your brush.

I love the process of filmmaking. I understood that you have to be a writer in order to be a director.

I don't listen to my songs. The only time I do it is when someone points out a flaw in the end product.

I used to throw a lot of stuff against the wall, just to see what ended up sticking; now I'm pretty much using everything that I create for a record.

My initial ideas are just a starting place. As a record goes along, it becomes more about making discoveries and getting excited about new songs.

I'm always writing, but directing takes priority over everything, unless the acting is a job that lifts that whole brand. If I get a part in a big film with a big director and I was going to direct one of my one films, I would take the former job because that job will only help anything that I then intend to do. I think in the long run, directing is the thing that will outlive everything else. Maybe that and writing.

I have no interest in writing, directing or producing.

I second guess everything I do musically, and I often could spend hours on, say, one snare sound.

Getting used to the studio and everything was fun, we freaked about alot. I was working very hard then.

The reason I wanted to start directing is that as an actor I felt I came into a job late. There's a whole team of people who have been working on it for months before you start. You have this really intense period of filming and then you leave it, knowing that the director will work on it for another few months.

It's a juggernaut, yeah... but I'm not phased by making movies.

It doesn't matter if you're doing a studio movie or you're doing an independent movie. When you get to set and you're doing a scene, it's always going to be the same job. I really don't think about my career, in terms of planning it out and what this does for me.

The whole thing with recording is you have to know when to turn off the tape machine and just stop recording because you want to keep fixing, fixing, fixing, you know?

You don't make a movie, the movie makes you.

I always try to do more than one or two takes if we have the time.

Being in the studio is like painting, you know, you can really take your time, and try different things, and kind of go deep into it.

When I record an album I'm trying to get as close as possible to that perfect moment.

I'll have the music, and then I'll just turn the microphone on, press Play and Record and sing. And whatever comes out ends up being the melody.

I love being on set, because I've basically grown up on a set. And now I love to contribute as a director and help steer the ship, if you will.