Daniel Day-Lewis has become the latest celeb to defend Paul Dano, days after the latter actor was read for absolute filth by director Quentin Tarantino.
It all kicked off late last week, when Tarantino — known for directing films like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction — said on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast that Dano is “a weak, weak, uninteresting guy”.
“The weakest fucking actor in [the Screen Actors Guild],” Tarantino said of Dano — who has starred in movies like Little Miss Sunshine, The Batman and 12 Years a Slave.
It was enough to enrage film bros the world over (the girls are fighting!), and it culminated on Monday with a (vicarious) response from Day-Lewis, who starred opposite Dano in the 2007 movie There Will Be Blood.
“Paul Dano is one of the best and most talented actors of his generation,” a Day-Lewis fan account wrote alongside a clip from their film.
While it was a fan account who shared the defence, The Guardian reports that the *real* Day-Lewis endorsed the sentiments of the post via a representative. He probably couldn’t give an actual quote because he has been method acting and in character for 20 years.
Day-Lewis wasn’t the only one to throw his support behind Dano after Tarantino’s comments. Reese Witherspoon said Dano is “an incredibly gifted, versatile actor” and “gentleman” on Instagram Threads, while Ben Stiller described the actor as “fucking brilliant”.
Meanwhile, Toni Collette — who also starred in Little Miss Sunshine — said Tarantino’s comments were “utter crap [and] bullshit”, before Alec Baldwin declared “I love Paul Dano”.
Elsewhere, The White Lotus star Patrick Schwarzenegger said he “can’t wait to work” with Dano, while Frozen star Josh Gad, Barbie’s Simu Liu and The Lord of the Rings’ Elijah Wood each shared messages of support on social media.
In perhaps the most cutting retort, Tarantino’s comments were rejected by his very own fan page, which in film bro terms, is the equivalent of saying you dislike The Godfather.
“Sorry Quentin but Paul Dano is one of the most underrated actors of his generation,” @QTarantino_news wrote on X.
Wait ‘til Letterboxd hears about this!
For what it’s worth, Dano wasn’t the only one to catch strays from Tarantino. He also said he “didn’t care for” Owen Wilson and Scooby Doo star Matthew Lillard — which begs the question: what does he have against scrawny, offbeat white guys?
Lead images: Getty Images, Instagram and X
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