Paul Dano very happy other people responded to Quentin Tarantino “So I didn’t have to”
It’s been a weirdly good day for actors listed on Quentin Tarantino’s personal hitlist to open up about the extremely random-seeming ordeal. Earlier today, we reported that Matthew Lillard—who came off relatively light in the director’s assessment of various actors on a recent episode of Bret Easton Ellis’ podcast, getting merely an “I don’t like” in passing—talked about the weirdly positive experience of people speaking up on his behalf. But now Tarantino’s prime target—Paul Dano, denigrated in the conversation as, among other things, “the limpest dick in the world”—has now opened up (slightly) about the whole strange and unprovoked lambasting.
In fact, Dano didn’t get a chance to respond at first—having been asked about topic at a 20th anniversary event for Little Miss Sunshine at Sundance—because co-star Toni Collette jumped in before he could: “Are we really going there?” she asked, per Variety. “Fuck that guy! He must’ve been high… it was just confusing. Who does that?” Instead of joining in on the “Fuck that guy!” chorus, Dano instead focused on the people—from regular fans up to the various directors and actors he’s worked with over the years, including Matt Reeves, Ben Stiller, and There Will Be Blood scene partner Daniel Day-Lewis—who defended him in the wake of the comments. “That was really nice,” Dano told reporters at the event, adding that the best part was that it meant he didn’t have to say anything in direct response to Tarantino’s random drive-by: “I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to.”
Tarantino made his comments a few months back, in the context of listing his favorite movies of all time; he was noting that he’d bumped There Will Be Blood down the list several spots specifically because of Dano’s performance.
