By Gill Pringle
With his disturbing portrayal of a crazed fan in Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story, Dane DeHaan joins the annals of cinema’s most memorable demented fans. As Jim Dooley – a head-banging compulsive eater, obsessed with stealing his favourite author’s unfinished manuscripts – DeHaan takes his place alongside Robert De Niro’s Robert Pupkin in The King Of Comedy, Kathy Bates’ Annie Wilkes in Misery and even Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck in Joker.
The idea of fans who take their passion for their idol’s art way too far is a theme that runs through a number of King’s novels as earlier demonstrated by his character of Wilkes in Misery, a woman who kidnaps and tortures a famous author. But when King created the character of Dooley in Lisey’s Story, he was thinking less about Wilkes and more about Mark David Chapman, who shot John Lennon. “There are such people out there, and I’ve met a few. You just hope they don’t have a gun, or they’re not Dooley. Dane DeHaan is great as Dooley, and I think people are going to be properly terrified,” says King, who adapted his prize-winning novel into an eight-part TV series for Apple TV +, directed by Pablo Larrain and starring Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Joan Allen.
Lisey’s Story producer J.J. Abrams agrees: “Dane brings one of the great King villains to life in a way that is kind of unbelievable because he’s so fully dimensional, turning in a performance that is as funny as it is utterly horrific and terrifying. He just blew my mind,” he says of the 35-year-old actor whose films include Chronicle, The Place Beyond The Pines and Lawless. Inflicting his violent frustration on Julianne Moore’s Lisey, the actress might be forgiven for disliking DeHaan, who serves as her tormentor in this twisted tale. It’s a testament to his skills that she says instead, “He was actually a lot of fun, playing this crazed fan. Dane is such a magnificent actor and he does so many incredibly creative things while, at the same time, menacing Lisey throughout the whole story.”
FilmInk spoke with DeHaan about finding his dark side.
Who is Jim Dooley?
“He’s a dark character with an obsession for the works of author Scott Landon. Dooley looks at Scott’s novels as scripture. He lives by them and he breathes them. They’re everything to him. They’re his entire world. And as much of a fan as he is of Scott, he’s not such a fan of Lisey, Scott’s wife. He thinks that she was a really bad influence on Scott, was too controlling and didn’t let Scott do what he wanted to do. When Scott dies, Dooley wants his unpublished works to be published and he thinks that Lisey is keeping them away from the public to see and enjoy. So he makes it his mission to ensure that all of those books are published, and he’ll do pretty much anything to make sure that happens.”
Your performance is deeply scary and weird. Where did you find inspiration?
“So much of it was really an exploration of the character that started with my first conversation with Pablo Larrain, who wanted to take the character and make something that resonates in an unsettling way for a modern audience. So we did something different than what was in the novel or even in the script as I first read it. The entire process was truly an exploration of this character and adding and trying different things and even Stephen King writing new scenes as we went along, to try to flesh out Dooley as much as we can. Stephen is such a gentle soul, and he’s obviously extremely creative and a great collaborator. It was always fun to see what he would come up with in such a short amount of time. So, I didn’t necessarily take inspiration from real life; it was just part of this exploration between the director and Stephen King and myself.”
You’ve played several villains in the past including Harry Osborn/Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. How has your approach changed over the years?
“I’ve certainly played a lot of bad guys, but I don’t think I’ve ever played a part like this. This is very different from anything that I’ve ever done before. When I was younger playing villains, I would always come from a perspective that, at our heart and deep in our soul, we’re all good, and I think – as I’ve become older – I realise that not everyone is good and some people are just bad and evil and that’s a part of this also. I used to think that all people are good in their hearts but I no longer think that. Some people are just bad.”
Can you describe your emotional arc in this story?
“It’s an interesting question, because Dooley is not a very emotional person. He’s a person that has a passion for Scott Landon, the author, and he looks at Landon not only as his favourite author but as his idol and he worships him; he’s his god, he’s his father, he’s his everything. So everything that Dooley does is because of that. He has such an admiration for Scott Landon that he feels that their relationship is intimate and should be the most intimate relationship that Scott Landon has. As we go along in the story, my interactions in trying to get Scott Landon’s unpublished works often bring me head-to-head with Lisey who I see as a roadblock in trying to release his papers to the world.”
You share some very intense and violent scenes with Julianne’s Lisey. How was it shooting those scenes?
“Episode Four starts with a really long scene between Julianne and I and it’s very intense. Luckily it happened towards the end of our shoot, before we got shut down because of COVID, and it was at that point where we were used to the way that Pablo likes to work. He can be very exploratory and not always doing exactly things as they are written. And it was this big exploration of Dooley that ended up being a lot of eating and the yoyo and the head-banging and all this stuff that we found just by exploring on set as we were going along. When it came time to shoot that scene, it ended up as a great opportunity to incorporate a lot of that stuff. It was intense, of course, but it was a lot of fun to be able to take our time with that scene.”
Talk about working with Julianne Moore?
“Julianne is obviously amazing and her work speaks for itself. But she also creates this really positive, wonderful energy on set which allows us to go to these dark, twisted places while the camera is rolling. She would be doing takes where I would be torturing her and she would be screaming and crying and then they would call cut and she was the first to break out into giggles. It was incredibly impressive because I don’t know if I could flip from absolute joy to being so serious in a scene. She’s amazing and, especially with this, where she’s navigated this incredibly complicated story where she’s dealing with loss and love and family and enemies; things in the real world and things not in the real world. It’s such a difficult role that she does so beautifully. I’ve always been a fan of hers and, after this, I’m certainly an even bigger fan.”
In terms of Stephen King’s portrayals of rabid fans like Annie Wilkes in Misery vs your Jim Dooley, how do you think the two stack up? Who would you rather be locked up with?
“Haha. Oh man. I’m familiar with the movie and obviously Kathy Bates’ amazing performance. I don’t think I’d want to be locked up with her! In terms of a fan, I feel like Dooley would never hurt Scott Landon in the way that Annie Wilkes hurts the author in Misery. Dooley would feel more loving and intimate with Scott but neither of them sounds great! I would probably pick Dooley though, because Dooley is mine and I have a soft spot in my heart for him.”
What was your experience working with J.J. Abrams as a producer?
“I don’t think I’d ever met him maybe since I auditioned for Star Wars…but what I will say about J.J. is: Look at the team that he brought together! He got Stephen King to adapt his own novel; he got Pablo to direct it; and he got Julianne Moore to star in it. You’re only as good as the company you keep, and the fact that he allowed me to be a part of this amazing company is a true gift and something that I’m grateful for. He definitely knows what he’s doing as a producer and that’s pretty undeniable.”
Have you had any personal encounters with crazy fans?
“I honestly haven’t, no. All of my own interactions with fans have been very positive and I’m thankful for that. I do really love my fans and appreciate them.”
Lisey’s Story is released on Apple TV + on June 4.
