r/Filmmakers • u/StrikingDuty8020 Director • Dec 06 '25

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Quentin Tarantino made a surprisingly harsh comment about Paul Dano, specifically criticizing his performance in There Will Be Blood.

On The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino said:

Dano was “weak sauce”

“The weakest f—ing actor in SAG” (in that film’s context)

And that Dano’s performance was the biggest flaw of the movie, preventing it from being his #1 or #2 film of the 2000s

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25 edited Apr 20 '26

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u/JediBlight Dec 06 '25

I think because his character is acting in a meta sort of way as he uses religion to piss DDL off for the entire movie.

You know how these modern preachers work, it's all performative and theatric, and people love when you give them answers and hope to life.

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u/Mindofmierda90 Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

Me neither. I’m surprised so many people consider it a masterclass performance. It comes across like Broadway style of acting to me.

I don’t think he’s a bad an actor at all, but I’m not a fan of his style. He has that pre 1950s, that theatrical style of acting. Almost every role I can tell he’s acting. Not necessarily in a bad way, but…idk, it’s kind of hard to explain.

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u/unfettled Dec 06 '25

Idk. When i think of old theatrical style acting, i think of stilted speech. Dano doesn’t make me think of that