In “The Place Beyond The Pines,” Allentown native Dane DeHaan spends a lot of time riding around on a BMX bike. The vehicle is more than a means of transportation for his character, Jason. It’s also an unconscious link between Jason and the motorcycle-loving father (Ryan Gosling) he never knew.

As he was preparing for the role, DeHaan opted to build the bike from scratch rather than allowing the production designer to find him one. He turned to an L.A. bike shop called Bicycle Kitchen, where he learned how to assemble a bike out of beat-up parts.

“That bike is Jason’s best friend; it’s almost like an extension of him,” DeHaan says. “I wanted the bike to come across onscreen as if it had a real importance in his life.

“And the only way for me to be able to do that was to build the bike, ship it to the set in Schenectady and just make it my baby.”

To say that DeHaan takes his job seriously is an understatement. Almost from the moment he stepped onstage in a production of “Aesop’s Fables” at Stage Door Workshop at the Asbury United Methodist Church in South Whitehall Township, he has known what he wanted to do with his life.

Lately, all of DeHaan’s hard work has been paying off. In 2012, the performer had the kind of year most actors only dream about. He appeared in a surprise hit (“Chronicle”), a Best Picture Oscar nominee (“Lincoln”) and a well-received indie (“Lawless.”) “Place Behind the Pines” opens in Philadelphia on April 12 and in the Lehigh Valley later in the month.

In the next 12 months, DeHaan is poised to continue his winning streak with meaty roles in a handful of high-profile flicks, including Atom Egoyan’s West Memphis Three drama “Devil’s Knot” with Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth; the Sundance favorite “Kill Your Darlings,” a Beat-era drama starring Daniel Radcliffe and Kyra Sedgwick; and “Metallica Through the Never,” a 3-D concert movie due Aug. 9.

Source:TMC Newspaper