3 min readNew DelhiJan 29, 2026 07:08 PM IST
Director Quentin Tarantino is often celebrated for his idiosyncrasies and quirks, because arguably that’s what makes him such a successful director. However, sometimes he finds himself on the losing side of the battle when his antics are received poorly. That happened when he called out actor Paul Dano and berated his skills as an actor. He accused Dano of not being up to the mark and being an unnecessary addition to films like There Will Be Blood (2007).
In an interaction with the media ahead of the 20th anniversary screening of Little Miss Sunshine, Dano was asked about Tarantino’s comments. Before he could even get a word out, his co-star Toni Collette jumped in and said, “Are we really going there? Fuck that guy! He must’ve been high… it was just confusing. Who does that?” Dano told Variety, “That was really nice. I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.
The world definitely did speak up for Paul Dano, as multiple actors and directors came to his support. One of the first was The Copenhagen Test star Simu Liu, who wrote on X, “I don’t know, man. I think Paul Dano is an incredible actor.” Ben Stiller wrote, “Paul Dano is fu***** brilliant.” Batman director Matt Reeves tweeted, “Paul Dano is an incredible actor and an incredible person.”
A still from There Will Be Blood. (Photo: IMDb)
For the unversed, a couple of months ago, Quentin Tarantino went on the Brett Easton Ellis podcast. He discussed his ranking for the best movies of the 21st century and landed on Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. He said that he would have put that film as number one or two, but Paul Dano’s acting is the reason that it sits at the fifth spot. Talking about Dano’s scene with Daniel Day-Lewis, Tarantino said, “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. [Daniel] is eating him [alive]. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role.”
The comments obviously opened the floodgates of Hollywood, as many from the fraternity rushed in to support Dano.
