Director Quentin Tarantino has singled out actor Paul Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood as a major flaw in the acclaimed film. He argued that Dano’s work held back the film from ranking higher on his list of the best movies of the 21st century.
Quentin Tarantino slams Paul Dano in new interview
Tarantino listed Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood as his fifth-favorite film of the century, but said one issue kept it from placing at the top. “There Will Be Blood would stand a better chance to be in number 1 or number 2 if it didn’t have a big giant flaw in it, and the flaw is Paul Dano,” he said on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. According to Tarantino, Dano was easily overshadowed by Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar-winning performance. “Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander.”
The filmmaker continued with his criticism. “He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister,” he said, adding that another actor would have strengthened the film. “Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. [Dano] just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy.” Ellis challenged the criticism by comparing the scale of Day-Lewis’s role.
Then Tarantino quipped, “So you put him with the weakest male actor in SAG? The limpest d*ck in the world?” He later added, “I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance. I’m saying he’s giving a non-entity performance.” When asked whether he liked Paul Dano in any other project, Quentin Tarantino said, “I don’t care for him. I don’t care for him, I don’t care for Owen Wilson, and I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”
Dano’s career, however, includes collaborations with major directors such as Steven Spielberg, Bong Joon-ho, Steve McQueen, Denis Villeneuve, and Ang Lee. His performance in There Will Be Blood earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He has also acted alongside major stars, including Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, Robert Pattinson, and Daniel Radcliffe.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
