Paul Dano has finally broken his silence nearly two months after Quentin Tarantino unleashed a shocking tirade against the actor, calling him “the weakest actor” in the Screen Actors Guild.
The Little Miss Sunshine star addressed the controversy on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) at the Sundance Film Festival during a 20th anniversary screening of the beloved film. When asked by Variety about Tarantino’s unprovoked comments, Dano expressed deep appreciation for the outpouring of support he received from fellow actors and fans alike.
“That was really nice,” Dano said. “I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.”
The response came after Tarantino’s December appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where the legendary filmmaker lambasted Dano’s performance in the 2007 masterpiece There Will Be Blood. Tarantino didn’t mince words, calling the actor “just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy” and claiming he gave “a non-entity performance.”
During the podcast, Tarantino went even further. “Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role,” the director suggested, before asking rhetorically about Daniel Day-Lewis’s character: “You put him with the weakest f***ing actor in SAG? The limpest d*** in the world”
However, before Dano could fully address the matter at Sundance, his Little Miss Sunshine co-star Toni Collette jumped to his defense. “Are we really going there? F*** that guy! He must’ve been high,” Collette fired back. “It was just confusing. Who does that?”
The controversy sparked an unprecedented wave of support from Hollywood’s elite. George Clooney publicly defended Dano at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, stating: “I don’t enjoy watching people be cruel to actors. Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard, I would be honored to work with those actors.”
Ben Stiller, who directed Dano in the limited series “Escape at Dannemora,” posted on X: “Paul Dano is f-ing brilliant.” Meanwhile, actor Simu Liu wrote: “idk man i think paul dano is an incredible actor.”
Even Daniel Day-Lewis, Dano’s There Will Be Blood co-star, endorsed a social media post calling Dano “one of the best and most talented actors of his generation.”
Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris also weighed in, with Dayton calling Tarantino’s comments “an embarrassment.” Faris added: “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.”
Matthew Lillard, another actor Tarantino criticized during the same podcast, previously shared his feelings at GalaxyCon. “It hurts your feelings. It f—ing sucks,” Lillard said. “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 criticism centered on what he perceived as a fundamental flaw in There Will Be Blood, which he ranked fifth among his favorite films of the 21st century. “There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being no. 1 or no. 2 if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it … and the flaw is Paul Dano,” Tarantino declared on the podcast.
Despite the director’s harsh words, the overwhelming industry response demonstrated Dano’s standing among his peers. The actor’s gracious handling of the situation—allowing others to defend him while maintaining his dignity—has only reinforced his reputation as both a talented performer and respected colleague.
