Paul Dano Reacts to Quentin Tarantino’s Criticism

Actor Paul Dano has finally broken his silence on the scathing comments made by director Quentin Tarantino regarding his performance in “There Will Be Blood,” thanking those who supported him against the auteur filmmaker. “That was really nice. I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to,” he said, while attending the screening of Little Miss Sunshine at the Sundance Film Festival to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

While discussing his opinion on the best films of the 21st century on Bret Ellis’ podcast last December, Tarantino had said that There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, stands at the 5th Position in his list, which would have been at No. 1, had Dano not been in it. He went on to call the actor “the limpest dick in the world” and “weakest actor in SAG” and termed him as a “weak sauce” in comparison to Daniel Day Lewis’s performance in the film. He said that TWBB wanted to be a “two-hander" but failed at being that.

Along with Dano, Tarantino has also blatantly dissed actors Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.

The comments drew widespread criticism and backfired on Tarantino, not only from the audience but also from fellow actors and filmmakers like Reese Witherspoon, Alec Baldwin and Ben Stiller. “Paul Dano is f-ing brilliant,” Stiller wrote on his official X handle, while veteran actors like George Clooney came in support of Dano during his acceptance speech at the AARP, stating that he would be “honored” to work with actors like him.

Dano had never addressed the issue or responded to it publicly, until a reporter from Variety asked Dano about it at the Sundance Film Festival. Dano’s calm and measured response also quickly went viral, drawing applause from stars like Toni Collette, his co-star from Little Miss Sunshine.

Dano is currently set to star in many projects including the upcoming film titled “Bunker” which is directed by Academy Award winning director Florian Zeller, and an independent film titled “The Chaperones” directed by India Donaldson.

The author, Yoga Adithya, is an intern with DC from Loyola Academy, Hyderabad.