Quentin Tarantino named him the
Quentin Tarantino was anything but a “Little Miss Sunshine” when he decided destroy publicly one of the stars of that film: Paul Dano.
In December, the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” writer-director criticized Dano’s talent, calling him “the weakest fucking actor in SAG,” among other rather crude comments.
Dano has remained silent about the brutal attack, but ahead of the 20th anniversary cast reunion and screening of “Little Miss Sunshine” at the Sundance Film Festival on Wednesday, Dano was asked about the criticism of Tarantino and gave a pretty good answer: variety reports.
Oleg Nikshin via Getty Images
“That was really nice,” Dano told Variety. “I also felt incredibly grateful that the world spoke for me so I didn’t have to.”
Dano’s response is in stark contrast to the garbage Tarantino spewed.
The “Pulp Fiction” filmmaker made a ranking of what he considered the best films of the 21st century on author Bret Easton Ellis’ podcast and gave Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 film, “There Will Be Blood,” fifth place.
Eric CATARINA via Getty Images
The film stars Dano and Daniel Day-Lewis, the latter of whom won an Oscar for his role.
Tarantino went on to say that Anderson’s film would have been higher on his list “if it didn’t have one giant, giant flaw…and the flaw is Paul Dano.”
“[Dano] It’s a weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. [Daniel Day-Lewis] is eating it [alive]. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. [Dano’s] “Such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,” Tarantino continued. “Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he doesn’t need a strong contrast. The movie needs it. He doesn’t need anything. It’s supposed to be a two-handed game and it’s not! … you put him with the weakest fucking actor in SAG? The flaccidest cock in the world?“
Considering Dano has been in several beloved and critically acclaimed films, from “Ruby Sparks,” “12 Years a Slave” and “The Batman,” movie fans were left quite perplexed by Tarantino’s callous comments.
I love Dano, but more to the point of QT’s opinion: why publicly be a jerk about someone’s performance? Let’s say you don’t like him, but he tries his best to be mean about it. Completely unnecessary…and I think this is overt PTA jealousy coming from QT.
— Eric Rogers, Gainfully Employed ShowRunner (@EricRogersHere) December 4, 2025
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I love Dano, but more to the point of QT’s opinion: why publicly be a jerk about someone’s performance? Let’s say you don’t like him, but he tries his best to be mean about it. Completely unnecessary…and I think this is overt PTA jealousy coming from QT.
— Eric Rogers, Gainfully Employed ShowRunner (@EricRogersHere) December 4, 2025
Even some famous actors, like Toni Collettewho co-starred with Dano in “Little Miss Sunshine,” and Ethan Hawke, who co-starred with him in a Broadway revival of Sam Shepard’s “True West” in 2019, were forced to defend him.
“Paul Dano just goes on with his life. He has to wake up one morning and find out that this director just got mad at him and said hateful things to him.” Hawke said on Joe Rogan’s podcast. in December. “But anyone who knows Quentin knows he talks, talks, talks, talks, talks. Anyone who knows Paul knows he’s a great, world-class human being. And all this love for Paul is coming out.”
Bruce Glikas via Getty Images
Collette was more direct. When Variety asked Dano about Tarantino’s comments at the “Little Miss Sunshine” reunion, the “Hereditary” star chimed in with his own opinion before Dano could respond.
“Are we really going there?” Colette told Variety. “Fuck that guy! He must have been on drugs…it was just confusing. Who does that?”