After winning Boston Society of Film Critics, Gotham Independent Film and San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards this year for his role in Love & Mercy, Wilton High School graduate Paul Dano, 31, has been nominated for a 2016 Golden Globe.
Nominees for the 73rd Golden Globes were announced Thursday, Dec. 10. Dano is up against Michael Shannon (99 Homes), Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), and Sylvester Stallone (Creed) for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture.
In Love & Mercy, directed by Bill Pohland, Dano plays young Beach Boys songwriter and musician Brian Wilson.
The biographical film focuses on Wilson’s life, “from his success with highly influential orchestral pop albums to his nervous breakdown and subsequent encounter with controversial therapist Dr. Eugene Landy,” played by two-time Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti.
Award-winning actors John Cusack and Elizabeth Banks are also in the film.
Love & Mercy is the second film Pohlad has directed. He has produced a number of award-winning films, including the 2013 Oscar-winner 12 Years a Slave, which Dano and Mr. Giamatti also had roles in.
Paul Dano
Dano graduated from Wilton High School in 2002. He was the guitarist and did lead vocals in the Wilton-based rock band Mook with fellow Wilton High alumni keyboardist Dan Kreiger, drummer Chris Johnson and bass player Rob Bruce.
Dano has been in more than 20 films and has won numerous awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance and L.A. Outfest’s Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film for his role in L.I.E. (2001), the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Actor for his role in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and the Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in There Will Be Blood (2007).
Dano's latest film, Youth , is currently out in theaters. In the Paolo Sorrentino-directed film, starring Oscar-winning actor Michael Caine, Dano plays "a disaffected, Sean Penn-esque American actor" named Jimmy Tree, according to Vulture.com .
Love & Mercy was distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment and Roadside Attractions in early June. Click here to watch the film’s trailer.
The 2016 Golden Globes will broadcast live Sunday, Jan. 10, from 8 to 11 p.m, on NBC.
Click here to learn more about Love & Mercy.
Click here to learn more about the Golden Globes.