Actor Paul Dano has finally spoken out after Quentin Tarantino dissed his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s seminal 2007 film “There Will Be Blood.” Tarantino also called Dano — himself an Emmy, Golden Globe and Indie Spirit Award nominee — the “weakest fucking actor in SAG.”
Ahead of a 20th anniversary screening of “Little Miss Sunshine” at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Dano was asked about Tarantino’s comment but was beat to the punch by co-star Toni Collette, who said: “Are we really going there? Fuck that guy! He must’ve been high… it was just confusing. Who does that?”
Dano never commented publicly on Tarantino’s diss and said all of the tributes to his work that poured in across social media spoke for themselves.
“That was really nice,” Dano told Vairety. “I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.”
“Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris also weighed in the Tarantino controversy. Dayton called Tarantino’s remarks an “embarrassment,” adding: “I can only think that his rawness of his performance made Tarantino uncomfortable. He couldn’t be easily filed.”
Faris noted, “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.”
Tarantino ignited a firestorm almost two months ago, appearing on Brett Easton Ellis’ podcast to discuss his ranking of the best movies of the 21st century. The director revealed he would have chosen “There Will Be Blood” as his first or second pick but Dano’s performance, in his opinion, pushed it to fifth on his list.
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“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, referencing Dano and the film’s lead Daniel Day Lewis. “[Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. [Daniel] is eating him [alive]. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s 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 the weakest fucking actor in SAG? The limpest dick in the world?”
Tarantino then threw shade and two other performers, saying “I don’t care” for Owen Wilson or Matthew Lillard either as actors. Lillard reacted to the diss at December’s GalaxyCon 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.”
Tarantino’s candidness instantly backfired, resulting in an outpouring of industry and fan support for Dano and his talents — including a knock from George Clooney, who accepted a prize from AARP earlier this year and said that he “would be honored to work with” Dano and the other actors Tarantino dissed.
“Little Miss Sunshine” will host a 20th anniversary screening here in Park City on Wednesday night, a remarkable run as a box office hit and Oscar winner that redefined what indie film success could look like. Stay tuned to Variety for more coverage from the event.
From Variety US