Marvel Star Leads Hollywood Pushback for Paul Dano After Quentin Tarantino Comments

Quentin Tarantino tossed a grenade into Film Twitter by unloading on Paul Dano, and within hours a bunch of actors and filmmakers closed ranks around Dano. If this whole thing feels random, you are not alone.

What Tarantino said

On The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino went hard at Dano over his performance in There Will Be Blood, arguing the movie was meant to be a two-hander (read: built around two equally matched leads), but that Dano did not hold his side of the screen.

"Obviously, it is supposed to be a two-hander. But it is also drastically obvious that it is 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."

"He is just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he does not need a strong foil. The movie needs it. He does not need anything. It is supposed to be a two-hander, and it is not!"

He also called Dano "the weakest f---ing actor in SAG," "the limpest dick in the world," and dismissed what he saw as a "non-entity" performance.

The pushback

Plenty of people were not having it and came out in Dano's corner, some of whom have worked directly with him:

• Mattson Tomlin, co-writer of The Batman, said he watched Dano work up close as the Riddler and urged people to seek out Dano's directing debut: "I am really pleased to see so many people cheer on Paul Dano this week. Not only is he a terrific actor, but he is an astonishing director who exudes control and tremendous empathy." He specifically pointed folks to Wildlife. (Posted Dec. 3, 2025.)
• Simu Liu, one of Marvel's headliners, kept it simple on X: "Idk man I think Paul Dano is an incredible actor." (Dec. 4, 2025.)
• Dillon Freasier, who played H.W. Plainview in There Will Be Blood, told TMZ that director Paul Thomas Anderson's casting was exactly right: "The film is perfect. It is a work of art. And it is that way because everyone was perfectly cast."

Why this blew up

Tarantino being blunt is not new, but calling Dano the weakest actor in SAG is a wild swing considering Dano's track record and the fact that There Will Be Blood is widely cited as one of the best movies of the century. Also, saying Austin Butler would have been better is a curveball, given Butler's breakout came much later.

If you want a palate cleanser

If this dust-up has you curious about Dano's range, the people defending him pointed to two easy touchstones: The Batman for his unsettling Riddler and Wildlife for his quietly assured work behind the camera.