Most filmmakers know better than to publicly torch another director’s film or an actor’s performance, but Quentin Tarantino has never really played by those rules. On a new episode of Bret Easton Ellis’ podcast, where the pair ran through their top 20 films of the century, Tarantino used his praise of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” as a springboard to lay into one of its key performers: Paul Dano.
Tarantino started in full cinephile-hero mode, rhapsodizing about Daniel Day-Lewis and Anderson’s craft. “Daniel Day-Lewis. The old-style craftsmanship is evident in the film. It had an old Hollywood craftsmanship without trying to be like that,” he said, noting that the movie stands apart in Anderson’s filmography. “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.”
Then came the dark turn, that maybe should have stayed after hours once the mic was on, when QT explained why Anderson’s film wasn’t higher in his list
“‘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,” Tarantino declared. “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.”
Tarantino even floated an alt-reality recast. “Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role,” he said, before going even harder. “He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest fcking actor in SAG [laughs].”
For many fans, that’s going to land like a slap. Dano’s work as Eli (and Paul) Sunday has long been seen as a nervy, needling counterpoint to Day-Lewis’ volcanic oil baron — a performance that’s helped define the film’s legacy since 2007. To Tarantino, however, the imbalance is so severe that it keeps the movie from achieving true greatness.
Tarantino’s bluntness is nothing new; he’s spent years publicly ranking films, dismissing franchise entries he dislikes, and anointing his own personal canon. But calling Dano “weak sauce” and “the weakest fcking actor in SAG” on a major podcast goes well beyond a mild “not for me” take. In an industry where reputations can be reframed overnight by a single clip, it reads less like off-the-cuff film-nerd chatter and more like a public shaming.
At the same time, the rant is pure Tarantino: passionate, absolutist, and rooted in his very idiosyncratic view of what a “two-hander” should be. Whether this shifts how anyone actually views “There Will Be Blood” is doubtful. But trust Tarantino to turn a love letter to one of the century’s towering films into a viral hit job on one of its stars — and to sound completely thrilled while doing it.
Given that Tarantino and Anderson have been friendly for decades — the kind of directors who swap cuts, trade shop talk, and show up for each other’s screenings — one has to imagine a follow-up call is coming. And not a gentle one. How much are we willing to bet that the next time Tarantino’s phone lights up with P.T.A. on the screen, it starts with something straightforward and very human: “Dude, what the fck was that?”*
