It’s strange to watch the transition of an actor from a bit part to burgeoning indie darling and whirling media-dervish. But it’s oddly appropriate for Paul Dano, the 24-year old who is well on his way to awkwardly smiling and shyly introducing himself into your life before brutally attacking your conceptions of what it means to be an unassuming actor.

Praised for his calculating and spastic performance(s) as Eli/Paul Sunday in P.T. Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, Dano is a peculiar character. Not that anything he does is strange—it’s just the opposite. He’s on the verge of continuing a leap into mainstream audiences that started with Little Miss Sunshine and continues to grow with supporting roles in Where The Wild Things Are and Taking Woodstock. He sticks out in all his roles, whether it’s his flopish look that seamlessly translates from troubled teen to angry asshole such as in Weapons, or his voice that manages to make the same radical emotional turns.

In Gigantic, opening today in New York and Los Angeles, he’s transitioned into a leading man role with Zooey Deschanel as his love interest/”Magical Manic Pixie Girl.” But when appropriately brought against Dano’s quiet style, that “quirky romance” staple is torn away to reveal two people who are utterly afraid of what they’re turning into and unsure about where they’re going in life. There’s also a homeless guy trying to kill him–maybe.

We spoke with Dano over the phone, in-between radio interviews and filming The Extra Man, and had previously profiled him back when it was just as easy to walk into a diner on Avenue A to talk.

Gigantic is something you’re producing and starring in, you’re in the Ang Lee Film [Taking Woodstock]–how does this happen for you?

This was a script that i read and really liked. I wanted to stick with it and wanted to help it get made. What did we talk about last time? The Ang Lee thing is a small part–I play a hippie who takes some acid and has an orgy.

Of course. But seriously–everything that people write about you, and for good reason, is that you’re the small actor who does amazing roles and yet you’re having New York Times profiles and being shuttled around to radio interviews compared to a few years ago when you were basically handling everything on your own.

Yeah. It’s really funny. It’s not something that I’m used to, I’ll tell you that. We’re spending a couple days  this week doing press for the film and helping people know about it. All that stuff hasn’t changed my personal life at all. It just comes in little spells of doing stuff like this and make sure to keep your feet on the ground.

Is it becoming less and less possible to be unassuming? One of the things we talked about was that you were so unassuming around the East Village. But now you’re shooting The Extra Man, you’re doing Q&As for films like Explicit Ills and Gigantic. Is that affecting you at all in terms of being able to walk around?

I certainly am getting recognized more now than ever. But New York is a pretty kind city about celebrity. It’s something I have to learn and accept–it’s one of the pitfalls of the job. I still feel like I’m able to maintain a pretty normal job about maintaining a lifestyle though.

One of the weirder aspects of Gigantic–and you can comment on this how you want to–is the embodiment of the Homeless/Demonic character played by Zach Galifianakis in this. When you read the script, were you told how he’d be an antagonist and how he’d work into it?

The first time i read it I saw it as a manifestation of a kind of repression or depression–he’s living with something else he’s not wearing on his sleeve. That’s one of the things that really turned me onto the movie. It was an interesting way of trying to show that and express that.

Also–how many times have you fielded that same question now?

[laughs] That’s usually the first question. At least, you avoided asking that first, so that’s good. No–it is important and I understand why people ask about that. I think it’s something that people will like and they do want to know what it is.

It is a fascinating point. The last thing I saw him in was Visioneers, but he barely registers in the trailer and you’d miss him if you weren’t watching intently. In this, he shows up right away and dominates in this non-speaking part.

Right. Well, I think [the character] has to put whatever that is away and it’s a big hurdle. You do see the guy sort of disappear so that tells you that it is some sort of figment of his life. And Zach is awesome–he does have a good beard.

So–what does “Paul Dano the Producer” do?

Truthfully? Not a whole lot. It was more creative or collaborating. I’m less interested right now in a real business aspect of it. At some point, it depends where this industry goes. I’d like to help films get made that I’m interested in and want to see. But I’m not sure what that will entail, if it’s just acting or if I do try to produce or get involved with a production company.

So there will be no Mook production company?

[laughs] Ah, no, I don’t think so.

In a weird way, you’re now officially–I don’t want to say “indie cinema approved,” but you’re in a movie with Zooey Deschanel, your film has a Pixies song for a title and you’re on a whirlwind press tour that’s more comprehensive than There Will Be Blood. Are you freaked out by this yet, or is it still operating at the level where you don’t have to show up on a talk show.

Yeah, actually. It is weird, if just because i definitely view my job as what happens when we film the movie so it becomes a different thing when we go around and promote the film. I am definitely am now prepared better and better. Little Miss Sunshine I wasn’t prepared for–that was very strange and hard. There Will Be Blood I was as a little more prepared. I had to find a better attitude to deal with these things with. Hopefully you never get too used to it, but you learn how to deal with this. It can be a little stressful.

I heard your schedule from yesterday and I was surprised you hadn’t just freaked out.

[laughs] I do that when I get home.

What is the one thing you’re the most tired of having to talk about–Wild Things or Woodstock? Because you recorded your part almost a year or so now?

Ah, I think Wild Things looks really great–the trailer does, and I’m looking forward to that coming out.

Right, but it seems like asking you anything is the equivalent of going–”What are your thoughts and experiences based off this teaser trailer and Arcade Fire song?”

I think it’s a great trailer and it reflects the movie really well. I think kids are going to like it, but so will everyone else. It’s about childhood and it certainly has an element of magic to it with these puppets. It’s not all CGI, but it should be an interesting experience.

Well, I’ll wrap this up with–

[Publicity cuts in briefly to end it.]

Uh…wow. That was really weird. Ok. What’s up?

How does it feel about “this:” with press tours, being shuttled around in cars for these things to promote films that you’re now the leading man for as opposed to just strolling around.

Right. Listen, sometimes you get some smart questions and it is fun to engage with somebody about the film. You get a lot of general questions–the worst part is you get sick of our own voice and you try to find a  way to say the same thing differently to try to entertain yourself if nothing else. I think by the end of the day, you kind of feel like you don’t know what you’re saying at all. I’ll be glad when the day is done. [laughs]