Paul Dano is an actor who may not be recognizable among the average mainstream movie-watcher, but has established quite a following among certain film circles. Moving between indie films such as Little Miss Sunshine and Taking Woodstock, with more larger scale productions like There Will Be Blood and the upcoming Looper, he is doing nothing to hurt his cause and makes for a striking presence. Hopefully his talent will get him more noticed by the average viewer, but he’s still young, and it seems likely his time will come.

Despite not being a leading man yet, he’s still a prolific actor. As such, he has a number of projects coming up in the next couple of years. One of those is a reunion with his Meek’s Cutoff director, Kelly Reichardt, another person whose name does not have the familiarity their talent deserves. The film is a drama, entitled Night Moves (fortunately not a remake of the seminal Arthur Penn classic), and sees Dano, Peter Saarsgaard and an unnannounced actress as three environmentalists who come up with the radial idea of blowing up a dam. The synopsis seems to provide lots of room for comedy, perhaps of a dark variety. The stars involved are hoping for a summer shoot, so maybe we’ll be seeing it in theaters at the end of this year. We’ll keep you updated as news comes.

Meanwhile, Dano is also set to star in He Loves Me, which is another reteaming, this time with his Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The film centers on a young novelist struggling with writer’s block, who finds love in the most unusual way. Dano describes it as “sort of a magical realist  romantic comedy drama,” which would also very accurately describe Little Miss Sunshine, a charming and warmhearted movie that was winning in many ways. It has taken the directors some time to follow it up, but hopefully it will be worth it when it releases later this year, although a specific release date is not attached as of yet. He Loves Me also stars Antonio Banderas, Alia Shawkat, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould, and Dano‘s girlfriend Zoe Kazan, who also wrote the script.

For more information on the plot, Dano revealed these details:

“It’s [about] a young novelist who had success when he was 18, [with] a ‘Catcher in the Rye‘ type of coming-of-age novel. Ten years later and he can’t follow it up. He has a dream about a girl and starts to write about this girl,” he says about the plot. “So he’s finally writing and he’s inspired. He starts falling in love with the character that he’s writing. One day he wakes up and she’s in his house. He doesn’t know if he’s going crazy or she’s real. But he embarks on a relationship with this person. I don’t want to say anymore, so people should see it.”

You can see Dano next in Paul Weitz‘s Being Flynn, in which he stars alongside Robert De Niro. The film releases March 2nd stateside and look for own interview with him coming soon. [The Playlist]

Are you a fan of Paul Dano? Which film intrigues you more, Night Moves or He Loves Me?