An Atypical Actor

Anna And I Had A Dog For Six Years And We Loved That Dog. It Felt Like That Dog Was My Child, But As Soon As Bowie Was Born, There’s This Feeling Of Love...I Have To Provide For Her, To Protect Her, To Teach Her Things. She’s Become My World In A Way That I’ve Never Felt Before.

- Cezar Greif + Farhan Shah

IT’S NO SECRET that everyone thinks Dane DeHaan is lying about his age. How can this child... man... possibly be 31 years old? Meeting him for the first time to do this interview, we had to try so hard not to stare, or wonder if he is suffering from some new condition that keeps him perpetually looking like a 15-year-old. Pardon our cynicism. The truth is, genes aside, he keeps to his skincare routine. For the record, he uses a cleanser, toner, moisturiser and eye cream, and occasionally a serum. It’s a regime his wife of five years, Anna Wood, put him on. “Anna is really into it and knows all about these products,” DeHaan says, stifling his laughs. “I feel better when I do it. If you really want to know the brands, I use La Mer, Amore Pacific’s face cream, Clarins toner and Elements serum.”

The American actor first catapulted into public consciousness five years ago in The Place Beyond The Pines playing the son of Ryan Gosling’s character. Anyone who has watched it, has been struck by the intensity in DeHaan’s eyes. The best actors are the ones who can communicate emotions without saying a word. DeHaan belongs in this rarefied category.

This season, the self-confessed Prada lover (he has starred in five campaigns for the Italian fashion house) will be starring in two films: Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and Tulip Fever. We chat with DeHaan on a rainy summer day in Brooklyn about the films, being a father and what life is like now that he has a daughter.

What was it like to work with Luc Besson?

He’s amazing. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had making a movie. He was having the time of his life. Every day I walked on set, he would give me a big hug. He was so happy to see me and he’d be grinning the whole time.