Paul Dano steels himself for 'Another Bullshit Night in Suck City'

January 14, 2011

By Christine Spines

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With today’s news that actor Paul Dano was cast opposite Robert DeNiro in writer-director Paul Weitz’ adaptation of Nick Flynn’s harrowing and hilarious memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, it’s clear that 26-year-old Dano is quickly becoming the indie film avatar of the moment. He is to today’s crop of alternative films what Jason Schwartzman was to vanguard directors like David O. Russell and Wes Anderson (Check out this amazing footage of Schwartzman’s audition to play Max Fischer in “Rushmore”).

Dano first burst onto the scene in the Sundance breakout hit, “Little Miss Sunshine,” and has been working steadily ever since, primarily in auteur-driven arthouse films. His filmography reads like the ultimate film geek’s list recent works by essential indie filmmakers: Richard Linklater‘s “Fast Food Nation,” P.T. Anderson‘s “There Will Be Blood,” Ang Lee‘s “Taking Woodstock,” and Spike Jonze‘s “Where the Wild Things Are.” At next week’s Sundance Film Festival, Dano can be found playing opposite Michelle Williams in Kelly Reichardt‘s acclaimed pioneer saga, “Meek’s Cutoff.”

In ‘Suck City,’ Flynn’s profound and profane 2004 bestseller, Dano will play the role of the author, who encounters his alcoholic father (DeNiro) while working as a social worker in a Boston shelter. Weitz, fresh off his tour of duty at the helm of the big studio franchise comedy, “Little Fockers,” will direct his own adaptation. In fact, judging by the recent flurry of book-based projects Weitz has recently place in various stages of development (including adaptations of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s Admission and Neil Strauss‘ The Game), it seems as though the ‘Fockers’ experience might have provoked the director (who did his best work bringing Nick Hornby’s About a Boy to the big screen) to beat a retreat back to his literary roots.

Tags: Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Indie film icons, Nick Flynn, Paul Dano, Paul Weitz, Sundance Film Festival 2011