My Movie Starring Paul Dano (2025)

My Movie Starring Paul Dano—written and directed by Joe Bartone— is an absurdist, campy mockumentary about the challenges of indie filmmaking.

While watching My Movie Starring Paul Dano, I was reminded of the first time I saw Lollilove, especially how that movie feels like a group of friends making a mockumentary about Hollywood.

One of my favorite aspects of My Movie Starring Paul Dano is its blend of illustrations and dream sequences within its mockumentary structure. As the script is written, we are shown how the movie Bear Naked Amazonians From Mars looks in Herman’s head, with all its retro b movie campy charm.

The indie film Slash about the world of fanfiction and campy sci-fi includes a similar blend of reality and fiction. These moments in My Movie Starring Paul Dano are filled with absurd charm that veers into the sexist undertones of old genre films in a way that feels intentional and understanding, painting a picture of how the film industry isn’t as different as we think from the days of prehistoric babes in futuristic bikinis.

What starts as a film filled to the brim with awkward humor and characters we aren’t sure we want to root for swiftly becomes something bordering on heartwarming as we see how everyone comes together to make sure their dreams come true, even if not everything is going according to plan.

The jokes don’t always land but there is always a welcome amount of homespun charm that keeps you engaged and wanting to know how this unlikely group of characters will come together.

Some of the plot lines feel outdated and overly dramatic but in a way that satirizes the film industry and makes you intentionally cringe in response.

Unrelentingly funny, highly entertaining, and ridiculously absurd, My Movie Starring Paul Dano is, according to its creator, Joe Bartone, a tribute to the willful ignorance of independent filmmaking found in the late '70s in New York City. Developed through open discussions with the cast at the reading table, the mockumentary follows a delusional and fame-starved indie director, Herman Rumowicz, through the process of making his very first feature movie starring Paul Dano.

Herman, played by Christopher Jones, has a prophetic dream in which Paul Dano asks him to make a movie about naked Amazonians, a feature so great that, if made in time, it will give Herman the celebrity he craves. The movie, titled Bear Naked Amazonians from Mars, will, of course, star Paul Dano himself. In the dream, Dano gives Herman the exact budget he will need, down to the cent, before going off the grid while talking about sushi.

The dream gives Herman the precise incentive he needs to make his first independent feature film starring Paul Dano. He involves his former partner, friends, and family in the project, casting a kaleidoscope of wannabe actors from all walks of life, literally, as he finds them through flyers plastered on street poles.

Because of the dream he’s had, Herman is so sure Paul Dano will materialize and star in his movie that no one in his team even considers contacting the actor, and the shooting starts without Paul Dano. And through the scenes, the actors keep waiting for Paul Dano to come and take his place at the center of the movie, much like the characters in Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot, are waiting for the title character.