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George Clooney has added his name to the list of actors fighting back against Quentin Tarantino’s scathing criticism of actors Paul Dano, Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.
Earlier this year, Pulp Fiction director Tarantino called Dano the “weakest f***ing actor” in Paul Thomas Anderson’s acclaimed 2007 film There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, while ranking his favourite films of the 21st century on The Bret Easton Ellis podcast.
He branded Dano “such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy”, adding “I don’t care for him”, before also name-checking Wedding Crashers star Wilson and Scooby-Doo actor Lillard as actors he doesn’t enjoy watching.
Clooney, who co-starred with Tarantino in 1996 vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn, has thrown his support behind the actors, saying he would be “honoured” to work with all three, and suggested he was left unimpressed by Tarantino’s “cruelty” during an appearance at AARP’s Movies for Grownups awards at the weekend.
He said his latest film Jay Kelly, directed by Noah Baumbach, is a movie “made by people who love actors”, telling the crowd: “That’s an important part. People I’ve known most of my life… most of them are actors. I have a great affinity [for them], and I don’t enjoy watching people be cruel.
“We are living in a time of cruelty; we don’t need to be adding to it.”
Making it clear he was alluding to Tarantino, Clooney added: “By the way, Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard – I would be honoured to work with those actors. Honoured.”
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Quentin Tarantino criticies Paul Dano’s performance in ‘There Will Be Blood’ (Getty/Miramax)
In August 2024, Clooney said he was “a little irritated” with Tarantino after the director questioned the success of his film career.
While speaking to GQ alongside Brad Pitt, the actor, who also directs, said: “He did some interview where he was naming movie stars, and he was talking about you, and somebody else, and then this guy goes, ‘Well, what about George?’ He goes, ’He’s not a movie star.’ And then he literally said something like, ‘Name me a movie since the millennium.’”
Clooney said this put his nose out of joint, adding: “I was like, ‘Since the millennium?’ That’s kind of my whole f***ing career. So now I’m like, alright, dude, f*** off. I don’t mind giving him s***. He gave me s***.”
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Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney co-starred in 1996 film ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ (Miramax Films)
Tarantino’s criticism of Dano in December 2025 prompted an outpouring of love for the actor from his Hollywood peers, including Day-Lewis, Reese Witherspoon and Ben Stiller.
Meanwhile, Lillard said the Reservoir Dogs filmmaker’s words “f***ing suck”, stating at a fan convention: “You wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood. I’m very popular in this room. I’m not very popular in Hollywood. Two totally different microcosms, right? And so, you know, it’s humbling, and it hurts.”
Clooney previously starred alongside Lillard in 2011 film The Descendants, directed by Alexander Payne.