As I mentioned earlier, don’t feel too bad for Paul Dano — opportunities have likely arisen since Quentin Tarantino called out his acting. He’s gotten more exposure this past month than he has in his entire career.
While a guest on The Joe Rogan Podcast, Ethan Hawke also framed the situation as a glass-half-full scenario, emphasizing how much “love” Dano has received over the last few weeks.
I don’t think Paul Dano knew so many people loved him […] The punchline about this whole thing is that I’ve worked with Paul a couple of times, and I love the guy, and I’m so happy for him. Every other comment is somebody saying something great about Paul Dano.
In the days since Tarantino’s comments, many of Dano’s peers have come out to defend him, including Matt Reeves, Elijah Wood, Toni Collette, John Cusack, Ben Stiller, Reese Witherspoon, and Alec Baldwin.
Hawke, whose personally known Tarantino for many decades, also stops short of criticizing the filmmaker, instead opting to cite how the comments just reflect the outspoken director’s personality.
Anybody who knows Quentin knows he just talks, talks, talks, talks […] I’m positive that there are great directors that think I suck. Quentin just says whatever comes to his mind […] directors have opinions, they have super strong opinions, and what opinions do they have about? ACTING. Quentin’s talking about the movie he would have directed, he’s not talking about Paul Dano, he’s talking about something else.
Tarantino had criticized Dano’s performance as the “big flaw” in There Will Be Blood,’’ going on to call him “weak sauce,” “the limpest dick in the world,” and “the weakest actor in SAG.” The comments sparked widespread backlash — peer-to-peer criticism hardly ever happens in Hollywood, but Tarantino clearly didn’t get the memo.”
Earlier in the week, Dano’s casting was announced in Florian Zeller’s upcoming film, Bunker, starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. He’s also currently filming India Donaldson’s “Chaperones.”
Daniel Kaluuya took a sabbatical from acting back in 2022. There have been many theories as to why, but the important thing is he’s finally back, starring in this fall’s Chris Rock-directed “Misty Green.”