FOR ELLEN: Q & A with actor PAUL DANO, recorded September 15, 2012, at a screening of the film at Film Forum.

Summary: FOR ELLEN: Paul Dano gives a tour-de-force performance as a punk rocker caught up in a messy divorce/custody battle in the middle of nowhere. An actor who has previously played nerds and oddballs with tremendous panache, Dano here conveys charm, narcissism, immaturity and compassion in equal parts – all in one very complicated person who refuses to give up the relationship that he has barely begun to have with his young daughter. So Yong Kim, director of TREELESS MOUNTAIN, tells a tough, modern tale with a young man at its center who is as happy dancing alone to heavy metal in a bar, drunk, as he is sharing an ice-cream sundae with the stranger who is his child. Once again the filmmaker demonstrates her extraordinary ability to get a naturalistic performance from a very young child, who almost -- but not quite -- steals the show from the über-talented Dano. This podcast episode is a recording of a Q & A with actor PAUL DANO, recorded September 15, 2012, at a screening of FOR ELLEN at Film Forum.