Paul Dano is speaking out after director Quentin Tarantino recently criticized his acting chops.
Back in December 2025, the Kill Bill director, 62, took aim at Dano’s performance in the 2007 film There Will Be Blood, describing him as “the weakest f***ing actor in SAG” in an interview on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.”
Tarantino’s comments were heavily criticized, with stars including George Clooney and fans alike coming to Dano’s defense.
In an interview with Variety published on Wednesday, January 28, Dano, 41, acknowledged the outpouring of support he received online.
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“That was really nice,” Dano told the outlet. “I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.”
Dano was speaking to Variety ahead of a 20th anniversary screening of hit movie Little Miss Sunshine at the Sundance Film Festival.
His costar in that movie, Toni Collette, also chimed in on Tarantino’s comments in the Variety interview.
“Are we really going there? F*** that guy! He must’ve been high… it was just confusing. Who does that?” Colette, 53, said.
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Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris further praised Dano.
Dayton called Tarantino’s comments an “embarrassment,” adding, “I can only think that his rawness of his performance made Tarantino uncomfortable. He couldn’t be easily filed.”
“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,” Faris told the outlet.
Tarantino caused a firestorm in early December as he discussed his favorite movies of the 21st century.
The director named There Will Be Blood as his fifth favorite movie of the era, but said he was not impressed with Dano, whom he also described as “weak sauce.”
“[Dano is] just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. … Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he doesn’t need [a powerful onscreen foe]. He doesn’t need anything,” Tarantino said. “The movie would’ve had more — there would’ve been more stringiness to the beef. And again, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s not.”
Tarantino also said that he “can’t stand” Owen Wilson and that he doesn’t “care” for Scream actor Matthew Lillard.
Lillard, 56, responded to the filmmaker’s comments during a December appearance at GalaxyCon in Columbus, Ohio, per Entertainment Weekly.
“Quentin Tarantino this week said he didn’t like me as an actor. Eh, whatever. Who gives a s***,” Lillard said. “It hurts your feelings. It f***ing 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.”
George Clooney Neil P. Mockford/Getty ImagesEarlier in January, Clooney defended the trio of stars while accepting the award for best actor in Jay Kelly at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards.
“By the way, Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard, I would be honored to work with those actors. Honored,” Clooney said, per Variety.
Clooney said that Jay Kelly, in which he plays a fictional Hollywood icon, was “made by people who love actors — that’s an important part. People I’ve known most of my life … actually, most of them are actors. I have a great affinity [for them], and I don’t enjoy watching people be cruel.”
“We are living in a time of cruelty,” he added. “We don’t need to be adding to it.”
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