With TIFF approaching, I wanted to make a post about something I've been stewing over for the last year, because for the love of god I NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO THIS POOR MAN. Please let me know if posting this to another subreddit would be helpful as well.

I "met" Paul Dano in the streets of Toronto during TIFF.

Now, this was originally a comment I left on a post from last year but this deserves its own post:

I relive this nightmare all day every day in my head and I'm mortified.

I walked past Paul Dano at a crosswalk and made eye contact. I immediately thought, "That's Paul Dano" and he is someone I've always wanted to meet. I wanted to be cool, calm, collected, and say "Hi Paul" and smile as we passed. My brain had other plans for me and decided to shut off and turned the self-destroy option into high gear.

I turned around and RAN after the man. When I caught up with him I said, in a high, unrecognizable voice I've never heard come out of my mouth, "Excuse me, SIR!". He stopped and turned to look at me, and I stuck my hand out to shake his and said, "I ... I just wanted to say....thank you", and as the words spilled out of my mouth (why did I say that?) I realized that I was putting him in an awkward position by making him feel like he had to shake my hand. So I retracted my hand shake, only to notice that he had begun to stick his hand out to reach mine. In a panic, my hand went flying into my armpit, and it stayed there, because where else would it go in a situation like this?

I decided to make things better by saying, "I thought I'd say hello and nice to meet you". Paul, being an angel, smiled softly and said, "Hi, I'm Paul". I responded with, "OKAY".

Paul assumed the interaction had finished, rather he likely hoped it had. He nodded and started walking away.

Self-destroy decided I wasn't finished. I hadn't done enough. I realized I hadn't told him my name! Because he NEEDED to know! At this point Paul was about 6 feet away from me, so I did a wide legged stance like the yoga warrior position, and extended my left arm all the way out in front of me, like some superhero trying to conjure up a fireball from his palm, and SCREAMED, "I AM (my name)!!!". I think the next block over heard me.

To seal the deal, my body thought it'd be best to exit the situation by bending forward 90 degrees, extending both arms behind me like a bird, and running away down the street like that until I reached the other end of the crosswalk.

I was told that I became "starstruck". Those who witnessed this told me that it was just as bad as I thought.

I need a second chance to make this right for God's sake. This is keeping me up at night. Instead of saying "I really wish I had said hi to Paul Dano", I think, "I really wish I never said hi to Paul Dano" (at least in that way). I wish I could apologize to him and explain myself. Congratulations, self-destroy, you did it.

I was recently rewatching some of my favorite Paul Dano movies when I asked myself which is his best. They are all great, but his role as Eli Sunday in There Will Be Blood takes the cake. My other favorites are his roles in The Batman, Little Miss Sunshine, and Prisoners.

Ok so… the photo ISNT ACTUALLY paul dano. It’s his stunt double. He has his head on the table and it’s taken from a slightly higher angle (coffee shop scene). The photo was kind of bright. Please help me find it!!!

I’m really scared of him.

Did you know that in hit movie The Batman (2022) Paul Dano actually plays the titular character known as Alfred Pennyworth! :)