Actor Paul Dano is finally speaking out after Quentin Tarantino’s diss for his performance in There Will Be Blood.
Dano has expressed gratitude for those who stepped up, while Tarantino suffers the backlash of his comments, including from other actors he dissed.
Paul Dano Speaks Up
This year’s Sundance Film Festival featured a 20th anniversary screening of “Little Miss Sunshine.” Appearing at the event was Dano, who was asked about Tarantino’s comment a few weeks prior.
Co-star Toni Collette came to the rescue, stating, “Are we really going there? Fuck that guy! He must’ve been high…it was just confusing. Who does that?”
Until now, Dano has not publicly commented on Tarantino’s diss. However, he does call out the support he’s received since the scathing remarks. “That was really nice,” Dano told Variety. “I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.”
Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris also got in on the action. Dayton claimed Tarantino’s remarks were “an embarrassment,” saying: “I can only think that his rawness of his performance made Tarantino uncomfortable. He couldn’t be easily filed.”
Faris added, “You know what was interesting was the people coming out to defend Paul. There was immediately… he is loved by so many. He is so smart.”
The Tarantino Diss
The whole debacle started almost two months ago, when Tarantino appeared on Brett Easton Ellis’ podcast to discuss his ranking of the best movies in the 21st century.
While Tarantino originally would have put There Will Be Blood first or second on the list, he claimed Dano’s performance pushed it to fifth. Here is what he said to Ellis in full:
“Daniel Day-Lewis. The old-style craftsmanship quality to the film. It had an old Hollywood craftsmanship without trying to be like that. It was the only film he’s ever done, and I brought it up to him, that doesn’t have a set piece. The fire is the closest to a set piece. This was about dealing with the narrative, dealing with the story, and he did it f***ing amazingly. There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being number one or number two if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it … and the flaw is Paul Dano. Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, but it’s also drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest f***ing actor in SAG [laughs].”
Tarantino also threw shade at two other celebrities, claiming “I don’t care” for Owen Wilson or Matthew Lillard as actors.
Harmful Comments Backfired
Unfortunately for Tarantino, his distaste almost immediately backfired.
A huge outpouring of industry and fan support for Dano rushed onto social media, showing the connections that should be made between actors and fans for Dano’s talents.
Many fans argued that Dano was young in There Will Be Blood, and had to spontaneously take over both the twin roles two weeks before filming began because the original actor was fired.
Many actors and actresses also took to social media to praise Dano’s acting prowess, including George Clooney, who included Dano in his acceptance speech during an awards ceremony.
Filmmaker Matt Reeves, who directed Dano in The Batman, wrote, “Paul Dano is an incredible actor, and an incredible person.”
Reese Witherspoon, who starred with Dano in Inherent Vice, added, “Paul Dano is an incredibly gifted, versatile actor. More importantly, he is a gentleman.”
Lillard Adds His Opinion
Also catching some heat during the Tarantino podcast, Matthew Lillard added his opinion, too.
Lillard felt that the outpouring of love and tributes from his peers on social media “was like living through your own wake.”
He added: “All those R.I.P. emails or tweets and Instagram posts and TikToks, allof the things we see after somebody passes are so sweet. And the reality is I just got to live through all of it firsthand — alive and kicking! I can’t imagine a more lovely reaction to what happened.”
Speaking directly about the incident, though, Lillard commented, “The point is, is that, it hurts your feelings. It f***ing sucks. And he wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. He wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood. I’m very popular in this room. I am not very popular in Hollywood. Two totally different microcosms, right? And so, you know, it’s humbling, and it hurts.”