Quentin Tarantino earlier slammed Paul Dano, calling him the “weakest f**king actor in SAG” in a podcast conversation. He was asked to rank the best films of the century, with him placing There Will Be Blood in fifth place, citing that Dano’s acting was not up to the mark. Many actors from Hollywood, including Marvel’s Simu Liu, later came out in support of Dano amid Tarantino’s criticism.
Simu Liu praises Paul Dano after Quentin Tarantino’s remark
Simu Liu recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to speak in support of Dano, following Tarantino’s criticism of his acting skills. He wrote, “[I don’t know] man, I think Paul Dano is an incredible actor.”
In a conversation on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino was asked to rank his favorite movies from the century so far. His first four included ‘Black Hawk Down’, ‘Toy Story 3’ (2010), ‘Lost in Translation,’ and ‘Dunkirk.’ However, he placed There Will Be Blood (2007) in fifth position, which he believed could have deserved the #1 or #2 spots if it didn’t have the “flaw” of Dano’s performance.
Initially appreciating different aspects of the 2007 movie, he said, “Daniel Day-Lewis. The old-style craftsmanship quality of 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**cking amazingly.”
While he believes the film deserved to be on his top favorites, the poor acting of Dano caused it to be placed in 5th position. Slamming his performance, Tarantino said, ” ‘There Will Be Blood’ would stand a good chance at being #1 or #2 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.” He suggested that Austin Butler in Dano’s place could have been better. “He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest f**cking actor in SAG [laughs],” he further added.
Originally reported by Shazmeen Navrange on Mandatory.
