Paul Dano Defended: ‘The Batman 2’ Writer, Simu Liu and More Share Praise After Quentin Tarantino Slams Him as the ‘Worst F—ing Actor in SAG’

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/paul-dano-defended-tarantino-attack-batman-2-writer-simu-liu-1236599817/

46 comments

  1. > “The Batman Part II” co-writer Mattson Tomlin posted: “I am really pleased to see so many people cheer on Paul Dano this week. Not only is he a terrific actor, but he’s an astonishing director who exudes control and tremendous empathy. Check out ‘Wildlife if you haven’t seen it.”

    > “Paul Dano is an incredible actor,” Simu Liu wrote on X as other Hollywood names praised Dano.

    > Dillon Freasier, who was a child actor when he played H.W. Plainview (the son of Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel 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.”

  2. Obviously Tarantino has so much experience hiring great actors. Like the incredibly talented John Travolta and Jamie Foxx.

    Seriously tho I would put Dano up there with any of the greats, he’s a solid actor and always gives a new and unique performance to whatever he’s in.

  3. Yeah I thought this was a crazy takedown of Dano. He is an fantastic actor with tremendous range.

  7. Tarantino has been huffing his own farts the past year so this take isn’t really surprising from him. He comes off as if he has some personal vendetta against Dano and it’s weird.

  8. It really stinks of Tarantino wanting Paul Dano in something and being turned down.

  9. Was Dano in a foot scene with an attractive woman? Only thing that makes sense is that Tarantino is jealous he got to suck on someone’s toes that Tarantino was trying to cast in his foot fetish porn disguised as a movie.

  10. Any motherfucker that can co-star next to Daniel Day Lewis is a good actor and Dano did it.

  11. one of my all time favorite actors. not tarantino’s only trash take of recent years

  12. So Taranto just wants attention as usual. Dano has an amazing range and seems like a good guy. Dano has acted in 45 movies, and directed one. Tarantino 11 movies, been in a few of them because they are his.

  13. Is QT in the early stages of coke and booze-induced cognitive decline? His idiotic delusional soundbites have been extra dumb lately, even by his standards.

  14. Tarantino is the blueprint for every obnoxious filmbro asshole to come in his wake, this take doesn’t surprise me

  15. I may be mistaken but isn’t Quentin Tarantino a member of SAG? Has he not seen himself act in his own movies?

  16. I don’t understand why QT would attack an actor he hasn’t even worked with. Either there’s something behind it or he’s just really dumb AND rude, does he think he’s just an anynymous ~movie fan? 

    Also Paul was great in TWBB and War and Peace, idgaf about Batman tho lol 

  17. I gotta say I love all the people coming out to defend Dani and his work

  18. He doesn’t even need to be defended. His body of work speaks for itself. Tarantino is just a dickhead.

  19. I thought Dano was incredible in TWBB. I don’t know what film QT was watching. Just about everyone pales in comparison to DDL, but Dano stood toe to toe.

  20. Until he says otherwise I can only believe that Dano turned down a project of his at some point.

  21. Dano definitely did something to offend Tarantino. He was not bad in There will be blood. Quite good actually.

  22. Paul Dano is amazing! I fell in love with his acting since Little Miss Sunshine.

  23. It’s so out-of-left-field. Did Dano disparage him at a cocktail party? Did he turn him down? Quentin is never shy about his opinions, but they never veered into that level of ad hominem.

  24. I can’t imagine a better actor to play the part Dano played in There Will Be Blood. He nailed that role. Tarantino is a toe sucking bitch.

  25. I always like to remind people that Quentin Tarantino was good friends with Harvey and Bob Weinstein and he once threatened to beat up David Letterman with a bat because he mildly mocked him. 

  27. Do we know why QT hates Paul Dano so much? He’s never had anything good to say about him.

  29. QT is acting like those guys who trash any women who says no to them. He’s also into a helluva lot worse that a foot fetishes, so……

  30. Dano is a fantastic actor, saying otherwise is just a dumbass take. His acting in Prisoners was great

  31. So glad basically half of Hollywood and the internet have dogged on Tarantino for such a blatantly stupid claim.

  32. Can’t believe Tarantino thought Austin butler would have been better cast…. Austin butler fucking sucks…

  33. It was an absolutely wild take by QT. Not surprising, just disappointed.

  36. It’s fkn absurd. Paul Dano is absolutely one of the best actors in SAG, period. Tarantino over the last couple of years has really turned into an old guy screaming at kids to stay off his lawn with his various comments.

    The only thing that could possibly justify this random attack is if Tarantino announces his 10th project and it turns out that Paul Dano is the lead and this was all just a big publicity stunt. I think audiences would find that kind of funny too.

  37. I don’t even really like Paul Dano that much, but that take was wayyyyyyy out of line from Tarantino

  38. People are turning on Quentin,he deserves It to be Fair.
    I never been the type of guy to get mad or annoyed at a (proper) artisan braggin about hes work .
    Quentin IS a great director and a superb screenwriter.
    Hes always been an ass about It but people tolerate It because the guy can back It Up.

    What he cant back Up is this senseless bullying.
    Why Dano and why now?
    Dano is a superb character actor,Hes really good.
    He keeps to himself and usually does his proyects and dissapears from the limelight.
    I dont understand why he had to go the mile towards him,just out of the blue.
    Has Quentin seen hes face and jaw??
    Hes calling a great character actor weak based on a vibe he picked from a greatly directed and acted movie.
    This is absolutly senseless and he deserves to get shit on.

  40. Remember you are talking about this man – In a 2003 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Tarantino argued that Polanski did not commit rape, but rather “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor” (statutory rape), and that the victim “wanted to have it” and was a “13-year-old party girl”. He claimed that using the word “rape” implied a violent, non-consensual act, which he insisted was not the case based on his understanding of Polanski’s account. Polanski had given the minor alcohol and pills before the assault in 1977.

  42. I still respect QT as a director but his shitty takes remind me of this dude I went to film school with who had a hot take for every single fucking thing we watched and then later took a friend of mine to meet Kevin Smith and he bragged to him about banging her cousin

  43. This is a theory with 0 proof, but I think Dano plays angry, weak little freaks (excellently) that remind Quentin of himself in a way that makes him profoundly uncomfortable. 

  44. I seem to remember Tarantino attempting to play an Australian in Django and doing a terrible job of it.

  45. I love watching Tarantino films but he’s a piece of shit for throwing shade at Dano like that. Glad people aren’t standing for that shit

  46. Anybody who has actually seen Dano’s work knows he doesn’t need to be defended. Tarantino is an over-sensitive man-child who is apparently triggered by something (real or imagined) that Dano has done to him.

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