The guy in the short-sleeved, striped button-down shirt certainly looks happy enough, playing the bass alongside his brothers and relatives, watching the kids dance to his bands hits about girls and cars and surfing. But something is clearly troubling the Beach Boys singer-songwriter and resident musical genius Brian Wilson, and in the film Love & Mercy, the epiphany that will give birth to both creative heights and a descent into dark times is communicated in a few facial expressions. Theres the silent look of dread on Wilsons face, as hears the crowd roaring and a cacophony of voices in his head starting to get louder. And then, a few scenes, later, theres the sheer excitement and optimism beaming from his smile when he tells his band mates to head to Japan without him. Ill stay behind in the studio, he says. When you guys get back, Ill have some great sounds for you.
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Credit Paul Dano, the slim young actor best known for playing the mute, moody teen in Little Miss Sunshine and the fire-and-brimstone holy roller in There Will Be Blood, for selling not just those key scene-setting moments but the sensation that, over the next two hours, youre watching one of the 20th centurys greatest musicians find his mojo and lose his mind. Flipping between two timelines the heyday of the Sixties and the late Eighties, when an older Wilson (John Cusack) was still under the thrall of Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) Love & Mercy allows viewers to watch the troubled singer come back into the light. Its Danos version of the Pet Sounds-era Wilson, all guileless grins and anything-goes excursions into bold new territory, that gives the movie its heart and soul.
Rolling Stone spoke to Dano right after the movies world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, about the difficulties of playing Wilson, why he waited to meet the man and the joys of singing and playing Surfs Up. (Roadside Attractions will release the film in the U.S. in 2015.)
On a scale of one to I own several Smile bootlegs, how much did you know about Brian Wilson prior to getting involved?
Id thought I knew something about Brian Wilson and the Beach Boysyou know, you hear the music everywhere, you read a few articles, the usual stuff. I knew the songs that everyone knows and knew that Brian had lived a troubled life. But it wasnt until I read the script that I realized the extent of this guys struggle; it was a real holy shit moment [laughs]. The first thing that really struck me about his story was not just that he eventually came to this place where he could live a more stable life, but that throughout this whole ordeal, he still wanted to make music that made people smile and help them heal. I wanted to spend time with that guy.
So I just started immersing myself in all things Brian listened to everything I could, started reading through his biographies, just hunted down everything I could find. I just thought it about night and day. It was in the bloodstream even before I even had the part.
How long was it before you met him?
Quite a while because I didnt want to seek him out right away. I wanted to hold off on meeting him for as long as I could, because hes a much different person now then he was during the Pet Sounds era, and I was really intent on channeling that particular person. I wanted to form my own impression first. You hear the energy in his voice during those Sixties session tapes, and its like, let me see how I can get close to that first.
Brian is in the music. It might sound weird to say this, but I felt like the truest sense of who this guy was, and is, can be found in the songs. I wanted to really learn how to listen to him first. Plus I was learning how to play the piano and sing, and that was going to take a while. Im not kidding, playing and singing to those songs he wrote made me feel much closer to him than meeting him early on would have. Im glad I got to know him that way before I got to know him personally.
So thats you playing and singing in those scenes?
Most of them, yeah. I played and sang God Only Knows live on the set when we filmed. My second day of filming, I had to perform Surfs Up over and over. It remains one of the best days Ive ever had a film set. Have you ever tried to play that song, by the way? Its incredibly hard. Thankfully, we only did two minutes of it, and not the whole thing, but its tough. I simplified a lot of the left hand work on the piano. Brians left-hand work is pretty complicated.
As for the rest of the actors singing.
Look, youre not going to get five guys that sound like the Beach Boys! We would be the first to tell you that. The harmonizing in the studio scenes are where you start to hear a lot of blending going on. There are a few scenes where you hear me start a line of a song and by the end of the session, youre hearing Brians vocals. I have to give credit to the sound people, the transitions are really smooth; you cant tell that one half of it is the real thing and one half is me faking it, so I thank those guys a lot [laughs].
You did eventually spend some time with him, right?
Yeah, it came to a point where I thought, Ive done all I can do on my ownId like to meet him, if I could. That man he has some fairy dust [laughs]. The man is an an angel. Hes touched, in some indescribable way. My initial idea was, What can I draw from him that will help the performance? But when I actually met him, I just wanted him to feel comfortable around me. You know, Hi, Im Paul. Ill be one half of the duo bringing your life to the screen. You dont want to go in with hawk eyes with Brian.
The only questions I asked him were around a few instances where I couldnt quite figure out the truth of the matter. I asked him a number of things about Mike Love; its interesting, because for as much turmoil as that relationship had, there was a lot of affection and respect there. It was just very mercurial and a relationship that echoed things with his dad and with Eugene Landy. I had a lot of trouble sympathizing with Mike, to be honest. You read the biographies, and its like, Fuck this guy! But after I talked to Brian, I saw that he still has a lot of love for his cousin. So it did change things in terms of how I played those scenes.
The movie does not paint a very good picture of Mike Love.
A lot of people have said we were too gentle with him, actually.
When you were asked at the premieres Q&A about playing the scenes of Brian losing his mind, you had an interesting answer.
Yeah. The idea is not to play a character as if theyre crazy; you play it as if its someone whos trying to ignore the fact theyre losing their mind and is putting on a brave face. Its a little like how some actors describe playing drunk, you know? To be honest, it was harder to find a way to play the more innocent, everyday moments. Its easy to play childish, but tough to play childlike which is what Brian is. He seemed genuinely surprised by everything, even when he was coming up with these songs that had all these elements he was hearing in his head. There was a lot of Oh, wow, a glockenspiel, cool! [Laughs] He was very present tense. That aspect was a lot of fun to play.
What do you hope fans get out of the film?
Personally, I hope they feel that we captured even the tiniest bit of the energy that he has. I mean, fans know his story; they undoubtedly have a good idea of what hes gone through in his life, how he suffered and was exploited, how he finally found peace in his life. And if they love his music, they certainly have a sense of who he is as an artist. But I hope the movie leaves them with a sense of compassion. More than anything, thats what I got out of this. Ive never told him that, but Im sure hed be happy to hear it.