Five of Paul Dano’s best films to watch before Dumb Money including Prisoners

From Little Miss Sunshine to Prisoners, here are five Paul Dano films to watch before seeing Dumb Money.

Paul Dano has played a host of characters, from unhinged villains to sympathetic teenagers with a dream.

And with the release of Dumb Money – a film by Craig Gillespie telling the story of Keith Gill, a man who brought Wall Street to a standstill with Gamestop stock – we take a look of five of the actor’s best films.

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Paul Dano stars in Dumb Money. Image: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Perhaps one of the strangest films ever made, if you can get over – or get excited by – the premise of Swiss Army Man it’s well worth a watch. From the directors of Everything Everywhere All At Once, this 2016 movie stars Paul Dano as a hopeless man marooned on an island who befriends a farting corpse, played by Daniel Radcliffe.

Prisoners (2013)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners stars Hugh Jackman with an ensemble including Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola David and Paul Dano. In this twisty thriller, Dano plays Alex Jones, the suspected kidnapper of a little girl.

The Batman (2022)

While The Batman is a film with many strong characters, Paul Dano is more than up for the challenge. Opposite Robert Pattinson as The Batman, Dano plays the delightfully unhinged Riddler. Having previously been played by Jim Carey, Dano’s incel-like take on the character is genuinely scary...especially considering that he recorded more than 70 takes of the duo’s final conversation.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically-acclaimed drama sees Dano pull double duty opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. For his role in this film Day-Lewis is often credited as giving one of the best movie performances of all time, but Dano is able to handle the intensity remarkably well with his own excellent performances as twins Paul and Eli Sunday

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

In this independent comedy Dano plays Dwayne, a teenager who vows to be silent until he achieves his goal of becoming a pilot. Dano manages to express the rebellious and tortured soul of his character despite not speaking for most of the film and giving a standout performance in one scene especially.