Paul Dano Quotes

I have to be more universal than my projects, but no less innovative.

I really don't look at myself as just one thing. I'm kind of scattered and like to have my hands in a lot of different projects. It makes me who I am.

In my work, I have never had any use for anything that I have known in advance.

I don't do the same show on any two nights.

I can do a little bit of comedy. I can be in an in-between place, where I can do a little bit.

I'm not able to go in with an act that I use month to month year to year all the time. It's constantly evolving and changing and that keeps me on my toes but certainly adds to the challenge.

I want to be known for having a recognizable style. I believe having your own personal identity is what makes you competitive. On the other hand, I would like to be versatile and be challenged to go in new directions.

Even if I play a similar role to one I've played before, I will never play it the same, I'll always try to do something different with it.

Everybody is different. Everybody has different styles. Just do it the best way you know how.

There are a thousand ways to play any role.

As an actor, you need to be versatile. You need to challenge yourself.

When I have to play the same role every day, I have the flexibility to play the character in so many different ways. It's almost like playing five different roles.

I try not to do anything by formula.

Think on your toes, use what's around you, and come up with something organic and fun.

Eclecticism is the word. Like a jazz musician who creates his own style out of the styles around him, I play by ear.

With 'Friday Night Lights,' we were encouraged to make it our own and improvise as much as we wanted.

I like to reinvent with each project, in any which way possible.

You have to learn to be fluid and go where you're needed, when you're needed. You've gotta be flexible. I think that's what acting is.

There's no set way to do anything. Sometimes you have to go outside the box; sometimes you can do things the standard way. Like, you don't have to have a beat to write a song: sometimes you can write lyrics without the music.

You have to be able to adjust on the fly, and that is what the great ones do.

I improvise a lot and try something new every couple of years.

Part of being a comic is being flexible, being versatile.

The kind of artist I would like to be is definitely versatile. I don't like being boxed in or put into a genre, so to speak.

My mind is changing all the time. I can't live in a space that has a fixed aesthetic. I just need a blank slate when I come home.

Every time I start a new work, I try to be different and to start with a new perspective, so I search for a new idea, something which gives me a new way to access my creativity.