8 Actors Quentin Tarantino Would Snub Before Paul Dano, Ranked

Quentin Tarantino has never been shy about saying exactly what he thinks of other actors, and he just unloaded again. If you enjoy a spicy industry rant with a side of 'did he really say that?', pull up a chair.

The rant that kicked this off

On Bret Easton Ellis' podcast, Tarantino praised 'There Will Be Blood' but tore into Paul Dano's performance in it. He even tossed out his own alternate casting.

'[Paul 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 f-cking actor in SAG [laughs].'

He didn’t stop there. In the same breath, he said he doesn’t care for Owen Wilson or Matthew Lillard either. Not exactly subtle.

Other actors Tarantino has beefed with (or just doesn’t like), ranked by how heated it gets

1. Matthew Lillard
   Tarantino has never worked with Lillard, but he still dropped a drive-by on the podcast: 'And I don't care for Matthew Lillard.' No context, just vibes. For what it’s worth, Lillard is widely known for 'Scream' and the live-action 'Scooby-Doo' movies.
2. Owen Wilson
   This one goes back a ways. On Howard Stern years ago, Tarantino talked about 'Midnight in Paris' and said: 'I liked Owen Wilson more than I ever had before. … Comedy actors, you either really like them or you don't. And he's one of those comedy actors I don't like. I just don't think he's funny.' He doubled down on Ellis' podcast, grouping Wilson with Dano and Lillard: 'I don't care for him [Paul Dano], I don't care for Owen Wilson, and I don't care for Matthew Lillard.'
3. Robert De Niro
   During 'Jackie Brown,' there were rumors of friction. A Reddit thread once claimed there was a leaked call between Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein where Tarantino allegedly said De Niro would ring him late at night, yell, and call him names. The quote floating around from that alleged call: 'I don't know if I'm going to be nice [if] the guy [De Niro] calls up yelling and screaming at me like a maniac, calling me a [bleep]er!' There were also unconfirmed whispers about De Niro being 'diva-like' and unhappy with pay. None of that has been officially verified, and whatever happened seems long over — the two have been photographed together since.
4. Kevin Costner
   They’ve never worked together, but there’s a philosophical clash. As summarized by the Film Lore YouTube channel, Tarantino reportedly sees Costner’s classic upright-American-hero brand as 'sanitized' and even potentially misleading. In a 2019 interview cited by that channel, Tarantino is said to have put it this way: 'Kevin [Costner] embodies everything I consider wrong with prestige filmmaking.' That sentiment hasn’t been confirmed by Tarantino in print, but the worldview gap checks out: Costner plays ideals; Tarantino’s protagonists are usually criminals and strays who claw their way to a messy kind of redemption.
5. Bruce Willis
   The 'Pulp Fiction' set wasn’t all sunshine. According to Film Lore, there were reported arguments about Butch: Willis supposedly wanted a more traditional action hero vibe post-'Die Hard,' while Tarantino had a different, more restrained arc in mind. Neither has publicly addressed any blow-ups, so take it as informed chatter rather than confirmed history.
6. Miles Chapin
   This one is in print. In his book 'Cinema Speculation,' Tarantino goes off on Chapin’s turn in 1981’s 'The Funhouse': 'Miles Chapin, an actor I've always been allergic to, is as annoying as usual as Richie, the wimpy-creepy-bespectacled best friend of [Cooper Huckabee's] Buzz.' He also needles the look: 'Chapin goes through the film with a sweater tied around his neck (which in those days was egregious enough for me to hate him on sight).'
7. George Clooney
   Tarantino has publicly said he doesn’t consider Clooney a movie star. He name-checked Brad Pitt as one, and when pressed about Clooney, basically said 'no.' Clooney told GQ this rubbed him the wrong way: 'Quentin said some sh*t about me recently.' He added: 'And then he literally said something like, "Name me a movie since the millennium." And I was like, "Since the millennium? That’s kind of my whole f***ing career."'
8. Lawrence Tierney
   This is the legendary one. On 'Reservoir Dogs,' Tarantino says Tierney was a full-on nightmare. He told TMZ: 'I had never directed a movie before. And Lawrence Tierney was a f***ing nightmare. He was completely insane. He was so crazy, and I'm dealing with a crazy man.' It climaxed with Tarantino firing him at breakfast: 'All the other actors and the crew can't stand him. And all of a sudden, he yells at me, does something disrespectful. And so I fired him at the breakfast table. The crew breaks into applause.' They eventually made peace, but that story has been following Tierney — and Tarantino — for decades.

Agree with his takes or not, Tarantino's consistent: if he thinks an actor is wrong for a role or a type, he will absolutely say so out loud. And sometimes, very loud.