we'd have a whole other skew of answers to those questions.

But.

[gentle piano music]

- [Reporter] Dan. - Yes.

- [Reporter] You are about to take

Vanity Fair's Proust questionnaire.

- What an honor.

- [Reporter] We asked 35 questions in rapid succession

in order to reveal your true nature.

- Oh boy.

- [Reporter] Once a question has been read out,

you will have five seconds to answer before we move on.

Once we've completed all 35 questions

you will have a chance to reflect on

and even correct your answers.

- I am as ready as I can be, I think.

- [Reporter] What is your idea of perfect happiness?

- A sunny afternoon in Tokyo

with some of my closest friends.

- [Reporter] What is your greatest fear?

- Illness.

- [Reporter] What is a trait

that you most deplore in yourself?

- Thinking I have an answer to everything.

- [Reporter] What is the trait you most deplore in others?

- Bigotry.

- [Reporter] Which living person do you most admire?

- Oprah.

- [Reporter] What is your greatest extravagance?

- Glasses and sunglasses.

I have more than I'd like to share with you here today.

- [Reporter] What is your current state of mind?

- Hopeful.

- [Reporter] What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

- Obedience.

- [Reporter] On what occasion do you lie?

- Ooh, when the truth would hurt more

and the lie wouldn't hurt.

- [Reporter] What do you dislike most about your appearance?

- I have a very lazy eye.

- [Reporter] Which living person do you most despise?

- I don't want to give him press.

- [Reporter] What is the quality you most like in a man?

- Humility.

- [Reporter] What is the quality you most like in a woman?

- I like them all.

- [Reporter] Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

- The thing is.

- [Reporter] What or who is the greatest love of your life?

- I don't think I've met him yet,

so I'm going to say my dog, Redmond.

- [Reporter] When and where were you happiest?

- Italy, two summers ago with some friends,

long before any of this happened.

- [Reporter] Which talent would you most like to have?

- I would love to be a very, very good singer.

- [Reporter] If you could change one thing about yourself,

what would it be?

- To let things go more easily.

- [Reporter] What do you consider your greatest achievement?

- Ooh, probably telling stories that might have affected

a positive change in someone's life.

- [Reporter] If you were to die and come back as a person

or a thing, what would it be?

- I really like my life,

so the concept of reincarnation is kind of sad to me.

- [Reporter] Where would you most like to live?

- London, England.

- [Reporter] What is your most treasured possession?

- I want to say my dog, but he's not a possession.

It's, he's more just like a family member that I found.

- [Reporter] What do you regard

as the lowest depth of misery?

- Self-obsession.

- [Reporter] What is your favorite occupation?

- I quite like juggling acting and writing,

although ask me when I'm working

and that answer might be different.

- [Reporter] What is your most marked characteristic?

- Sarcasm.

- [Reporter] What do you most value in your friends?

- A strong sense of character.

- [Reporter] Who are your favorite writers?

- Yikes. At the moment Anne Carson and Michaela Coel.

- [Reporter] Who is your hero of fiction?

- Mary Poppins.

- [Reporter] Which historical figure

do you most identify with?

- Whoever hasn't been canceled yet.

- [Reporter] Who are your heroes in real life?

- Great teachers.

- [Reporter] What are your favorite names?

- Eugene, Deborah, Sarah, and Redmond.

- [Reporter] What is it that you most dislike?

- Generally speaking, arrogance.

- [Reporter] What is your greatest regret?

- Not respecting myself enough in my teens.

- [Reporter] How would you like to die?

- On a beach, mid-laugh with some friends.

- [Reporter] And finally, what is your motto?

- There is no such thing as this is how it's done.

- [Reporter] That concludes the questionnaire.

- [chuckles] Okay, relatively painless.

- [Reporter] So Dan, how was that experience?

- It was okay, it was okay.

I crack under pressure usually, so it was relatively smooth,

considering other high-pressure situations

I've cracked under.

- [Reporter] Were there questions that you lied about?

- No.

No, the problem is between my friends and my family,

I'd be held accountable for each and every answer

to those questions, likely publicly.

So I just don't think I'd be able to get away

with lying in this.

If this were private, listen,

we'd a whole other skew of answers to those questions, but.

- [Reporter] Can you explain why you answered "Oprah"

to which living person do you most admire?

- I mean, she has played such a formative role in my life.

She was someone who has like, greatly informed my desire

to be of service to people, to try and do good in the world.

She has inspired a sense of charity and generosity in me

from a very young age, and I just think that she is someone

who has made a mark on the world in such a positive way.

- [Reporter] You answered "thinking I have an answer

to everything" when I asked what trait you most deplore

in yourself?

In what occasions has that gone awry?

- A lot of the time it's like unwanted advice,

where I just can't help myself from offering solutions

or opinions on things that ultimately were never asked of me

but I'm a Leo, so I mean, I don't want to default

to a star sign cause that's like a really weak excuse.

But at the same time, for people who are Leos,

you realize that you are essentially trapped by a star sign

whether you want to admit it or not,

and I'm not really even into star signs.

So I don't really know what that means

but I do know that I tick a lot of the boxes

of my horoscope.

- [Reporter] Why do you think "obedience" is

the most overrated virtue?

- I think I've learned even in this short time

in entertainment that a lot of the current setup

and you know, the current sort of constructs

of how this industry is, has been built and sustained

over the years is built on the simple concept

of just people doing what they're told.

And that's not to say that doing what you're told is

a bad thing at times, but I do think that sometimes,

in order to make great change, you have to break the rules

or at least ask questions that push back on the rules.

And I think that's the only time that you will change them,

for the better, hopefully.

- [Reporter] Can you explain the context

behind that your greatest regret?

- Not respecting myself enough in my teens.

Yeah, I mean, I think I was a really introverted kid.

I really didn't think that highly of myself.

And I think you look back at your teens

and you see missed opportunities.

Would I have changed anything?

Probably not, because I feel like everything that happened

to me led to who I am today, but at the same time,

I do feel like, you know, looking back, you think, geez,

you were so much better than you thought you were.

If I were to ever meet my younger self

in a strange sci-fi scenario, that's what I would say.

- [Reporter] Why is "London, England,"

the place you'd most like to live?

- I lived there for a little bit in my early twenties

and I loved it, and I go on a lot of dates there,

to be perfectly honest.

Me and Los Angeles and the dating scenario are

just not the greatest fit.

- [Reporter] Why is "humility" the quality you most like

in a man?

- Maybe it's because I live in LA

and it's really hard to find that in men in LA.

People are very, very concerned about themselves

in Los Angeles.

You know, I just think it's such an attractive quality

to be sure of yourself and confident,

but not have it take over who you are or define who you are.

- [Reporter] Why is "Mary Poppins" your hero of fiction?

- She's my fondest and earliest childhood memory

of a fictional character,

and I've always admired her strength of will, her stoicism,

her humor, and there was just this kind of strong warmth

to that character that I've always loved.

And I once made the big mistake of telling my Nana

that I wished Julie Andrews was my grandmother

and it didn't go over very well.

And now I just miss my Nana a lot.

So I've kind of equated the two of them.

- [Reporter] How'd she respond to that?

- I think she raised an eyebrow and said,

"I'm standing right here."

- [Reporter] Why are "Anne Carson and Michaela Coel"

your favorite writers?

- I have so many favorite writers

that I think you can only go on, like, the people

that are taking up space in your mind right now.

And I just re-read "Autobiography of Red,"

which is my favorite work of fiction,

which is a long-form poem

that Anne Carson wrote many years ago

that always sort of brings me great inspiration and joy.

When it comes to, you know, contemporary writers,

I thought what Michaela Coel did

with "I May Destroy You" was absolutely game-changing

and revolutionary and inspiring

and heartbreaking and necessary.

So they seemed like two kind of important voices

that are floating around in my head.

- [Reporter] You said that the talent you would most like

to have is to be "a very, very good singer."

Can you share what your go-to audition song would be?

- I don't sing that often,

because I don't have a very remarkable voice.

You know, in my mind, like a really, really good singer is

like, I would love to, you know, to show up

to a holiday party and sing by a piano like Adele

and have everyone run into the room

and just have their breath taken away by the vocal stylings

that I was surprising people with.

Not the case in real life, but probably a Mariah Carey song.

I would probably sing a Mariah Carey song.

- [Reporter] Let's talk about your greatest extravagance.

- Glasses and sunglasses.

I've been collecting glasses,

I think since I was high school.

So, you know, they're a form of expression.

I think when you can't see quite literally without them,

I have always felt like if they're,

if I'm stuck with these glasses, I'm going to have as many

as I possibly can to sort of swap out with every mood

and look, if you will.

- [Reporter] So you answered:

- I really like my life.

So the concept of reincarnation is kind of sad to me.

- [Reporter] Why?

- For me, I think there's a lot of people

that have a lot of hope attached to reincarnation.

I think it's a very optimistic thing for people

who believe that there's something outside of this.