2 hours ago
1
Paul Dano has responded to Quentin Tarantino’s scathing criticism of his acting abilities, thanking those who came to his defence after Tarantino called him a “weak, uninteresting guy” and “the limpest dick in the world”.
On Wednesday, Dano told Variety that the supportive responses that poured in from his peers and across social media was touching.
“That was really nice,” Dano said. “I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.”
While speaking about his favourite films of the 21st century on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast in December, Tarantino put Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood at No 5, but told Ellis it would have been No 1 or 2 if Dano wasn’t in it, comparing his performance unfavourably to that of the film’s star, Daniel Day-Lewis.
“Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander. But it’s also drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander,” Tarantino told Ellis. “[Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. [Day-Lewis] is eating him [alive]. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. [Dano] is just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he doesn’t need a strong foil. The movie needs it. He doesn’t need anything. It’s supposed to be a two-hander and it’s not! … you put him with the weakest fucking actor in SAG? The limpest dick in the world?
“I am not saying he is giving a terrible performance, I am saying he’s giving a non-entity performance … I don’t care for him,” Tarantino concluded, also criticising the acting of Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.
Many of Dano’s peers responded. A representative for Day-Lewis told the Guardian he agreed with the sentiment that Dano was among “the best and most talented actors of his generation”.
Reese Witherspoon, who starred in Anderson’s 2014 film Inherent Vice with Dano, wrote on social media: “Paul Dano is an incredibly gifted, versatile actor. More importantly, he is a gentleman.”
Film-maker Matt Reeves, who directed Dano in The Batman, wrote on social media: “Paul Dano is an incredible actor, and an incredible person.”
Ben Stiller described Dano as “fucking brilliant”, while Alec Baldwin shared a video statement to say: “I love Paul Dano. And if you don’t love Paul Dano, shhh.”
And during an award ceremony earlier in January, George Clooney used his speech to say he would be “honoured” to work with Dano, Wilson and Lillard, saying: “I don’t enjoy watching people be cruel. We are living in a time of cruelty. We don’t need to be adding to it.”
On Wednesday, ahead of a 20th anniversary screening of Little Miss Sunshine at the Sundance film festival, Dano’s co-star Toni Collette also weighed in, saying of Tarantino: “Fuck that guy! He must’ve been high … it was just confusing. Who does that?”
Little Miss Sunshine co-director Jonathan Dayton said Tarantino’s remarks were an “embarrassment”, adding: “I can only think that [Dano’s] rawness of his performance made Tarantino uncomfortable. He couldn’t be easily filed.”
Lillard has also responded to Tarantino’s criticism, saying: “It hurts your feelings. It fucking sucks. And you wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood.”
