The Batman Actor Catches Strays Over “Weak Sauce” Performance

Paul Dano, who has come across as a real sweetheart to date, caught some strays this week during a new interview with director Quentin Tarantino.

The Kill Bill director was chatting happily about his top films of the century on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, but after he ranked There Will Be Blood at number five, he didn’t hold back when explaining why the acclaimed Paul Thomas Anderson movie wasn’t higher on his list.

“There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being number one or number two if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it… and the flaw is Paul Dano,” he said. “Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander [with Daniel Day-Lewis], but it’s also drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest fucking actor in SAG.”

First of all, this is Jared Leto erasure. Secondly, Tarantino is entitled to his opinion, but his comments seem unnecessarily mean. Later, he even described Dano as “the limpest dick in the world” and added, “I don’t care for him, I don’t care for Owen Wilson, and I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”

You can imagine these guys scrolling through their phones this week and wondering what they ever did to Tarantino, but they should take heart that many fans and critics came to Dano’s defense after Tarantino’s comments, arguing that his performance in There Will Be Blood is one of the film’s emotional cores and that his subtle, often unsettling portrayal of Eli Sunday is precisely what makes the movie as haunting as it is.

One social‑media user wrote bluntly: “Tarantino’s statement on Paul Dano is wrong on so many levels. He holds himself strong opposite a legend like Day‑Lewis… it’s one of the great performances.”

Dano’s actual body of work also stands strong against Tarantino’s assessment. Over the past two decades, he’s built a reputation for versatility and intensity, whether he’s starring in indies like Little Miss Sunshine and Swiss Army Man or offering wilder turns in more traditional blockbuster fare like his villainous Riddler in The Batman.

Leave Paul Dano alone! Leave him alone.