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During a recent appearance on "The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast," hosted by his friend and "American Psycho" author, director Quentin Tarantino named "There Will Be Blood" as the fifth-greatest film of the 21st century. However, he didn't hold back his criticism of Paul Dano's performance in the movie, calling it "so weak."
(Image: Paramount Vantage)
Tarantino first praised the film, saying, "Daniel Day-Lewis is just so fantastic. It has an old-fashioned production quality to it, it has an old-time Hollywood craft to it, that it’s not trying to be. It’s the only movie he’s [writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson] ever done that doesn’t really have a set... The movie is about the narrative, it’s about the story, and he executes it so well."
He then pivoted to his critique: "It could have been my number one or number two if it wasn’t for one big flaw… and that’s Paul Dano. It’s obviously supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s obviously not a two-hander, because I’m telling you, man, Dano is so weak, he’s the drag on the movie. Austin Butler would have been fantastic in that role. Paul Dano is just so weak, he’s such a boring, boring person. The weakest actor in SAG (laughs)."
Tarantino's comments immediately sparked backlash, as Dano is a widely acclaimed actor whose talent has rarely been questioned. The rebuttals also came from Hollywood insiders, including Mattson Tomlin, co-writer of "The Batman," in which Dano starred as The Riddler. Marvel's "Shang-Chi" star Simu Liu, director Ben Stiller, and "The Batman" director Matt Reeves also took to X to defend the actor.
Tomlin, who co-wrote both installments of "The Batman," championed Dano, highlighting his work as both an actor and a director on the film "Wildlife."
Stiller, who directed Dano in the limited series "Escape at Dannemora," offered a blunt defense, while Reeves, who directed him as the iconic villain, also praised him as a person and a performer.