George Clooney has called Quentin Tarantino “cruel” for his recent comments directed at Paul Dano, Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.
The Pulp Fiction director drew backlash last year for suggesting Dano was “weak sauce” over his performance in There Will Be Blood, adding that he didn’t “care” for Wilson and Lillard.
Following the comments, Clooney has now defended the three actors while accepting the Best Actor award at AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards over the weekend.
“By the way, Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard, I would be honoured to work with those actors. Honoured,” he said (via Variety), adding that his film Jay Kelly is “made by people who love actors — that’s an important part”.
“People I’ve known most of my life… actually, most of them are actors,” he added. “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.”
Clooney isn’t the only one to come to Dano’s defence, with There Will Be Blood co-star Daniel Day-Lewis appearing to call him “one of the best and most talented actors of his generation” in an Instagram post. However, the account was later confirmed to be a fan’s, though a representative for the actor said he “endorsed the sentiments” of the message.
The likes of Simu Liu and Ben Stiller have also defended Dano, as did The Batman director Matt Reeves.
Lillard meanwhile admitted that Tarantino’s comments “hurt”, telling an audience at GalaxyCon: “The point is, it hurts your feelings. It fucking sucks.
“And 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.”
In his original comments on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast, Tarantino said There Will Be Blood missed the top of his list of greatest films of the 21st century due to “a big, giant flaw in it … and the flaw is Paul Dano”.
“Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, but it’s also drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander,” he added. “[Dano] is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”