Film director Quentin Tarantino has stirred a significant debate within the film industry after delivering a scathing critique of actor Paul Dano's performance in the acclaimed 2007 drama There Will Be Blood.
Tarantino's Surprising Critique on a Popular Podcast
During a recent appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where he listed his top 20 favourite films, Tarantino revealed he wanted to rank There Will Be Blood higher but could not due to Dano's dual role as twins Paul and Eli Sunday. To justify his stance, the Pulp Fiction filmmaker declared, "[Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister." He controversially suggested that actor Austin Butler would have been better suited for the part.
This assessment has raised eyebrows, given that Dano's performance was deemed award-worthy at the time. In 2008, at just 23 years old, Paul Dano earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in the film. He was nominated alongside heavyweights like the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and the winner, Javier Bardem.
The Making of a Breakout Role and a Stellar Career
Dano's casting in the Paul Thomas Anderson epic was itself a story of serendipity. He was originally hired for a small role, scheduled to film just one scene as preacher Paul. However, upon arriving on set three weeks into filming, Anderson offered him the much larger and pivotal role of Eli Sunday after deciding the originally cast actor "wasn't the right fit." Dano later admitted he didn't have time to get nervous, calling the last-minute offer a "sliding doors moment" for his career.
Prior to this, Dano had gained attention for his mostly silent role in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), but There Will Be Blood was his true breakout. Critics praised his ability to hold his own against Daniel Day-Lewis, with Rolling Stone famously describing his work as "Daniel Day-Lewis + Billy Crudup × Johnny Depp."
Following this success, Dano's career flourished. He starred in major Hollywood films including Knight and Day (2010) with Tom Cruise, Cowboys & Aliens (2011), and the critically acclaimed Prisoners (2013) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). He received a Golden Globe nomination for playing Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy (2014) and a Primetime Emmy nomination for Escape at Dannemora (2018).
More recently, he played The Riddler in The Batman (2022) and earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for portraying Steven Spielberg's father in The Fabelmans (2022). He also made his directorial debut with Wildlife (2018). Dano shows no signs of slowing, with a leading role in the upcoming satire The Wizard of the Kremlin, set for release in January 2026.
Industry and Fan Backlash in Defence of Dano
Tarantino's comments have been met with widespread support for Dano from fans and colleagues alike. Dillon Freasier, who played the child version of H.W. Plainview in There Will Be Blood, told TMZ, "The film is perfect. It's a work of art. And it's that way because everyone was perfectly cast." He also pointed out that Austin Butler would have been far too young for the role when the film was made.
Screenwriter Mattson Tomlin, who co-wrote The Batman: Part II, also voiced his support on social media, praising Dano as "a terrific actor" and "an astonishing director." The defence highlights the respect Dano commands within the industry, contrasting sharply with Tarantino's dismissive "non-entity performance" description.
As of now, Paul Dano himself has not publicly responded to Tarantino's jibes. The actor, who is notoriously private and lives with his partner, writer Zoe Kazan, and their two young children, has maintained his focus on a consistently impressive and varied body of work that speaks for itself.
