Quentin Tarantino adds ‘Paul Dano critic’ to his resume

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — One would think that with all the criticism around Quentin Tarantino and some of his choices, he’d be the last person to slam someone else in the industry.

And one would be wrong.

The director recently let loose about his lack of affection for the work of actor Paul Dano.

During an appearance on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast,” Tarantino mentioned that Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 film, “There Will Be Blood,” was his fifth-favorite movie of the 21st century. But, he said, he would have listed it first or second were it not for “a big giant flaw in it, and the flaw is Paul Dano.”

Turns out that the acclaimed director didn’t think that Dano, who played two roles in the movie as identical twins Eli and Paul Sunday, was up to sharing the screen with costar Daniel Day-Lewis.

For those who find this to be wild commentary coming from a man who may not have gotten much screen time were he not able to cast himself in his own projects, Tarantino doubled down.

“He is weak sauce, man,” Tarantino said. “He’s a weak sister.”

So who could have done it better?

“Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role,” Tarantino said, adding that Dano is “just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy.”

For the record, Butler was 16 years old back then, so there’s that.

Anderson might want a word with Tarantino given that he not only cast Dano as Paul Sunday, but actually rewrote the movie to make that character and Eli Sunday identical twins to have Dano play both roles.

The character of Paul was a minor role and the one in which Dano had initially been cast.

“I remember meeting with Paul on a Thursday, I think it was,” Dano said in 2008 during an interview with Terry Gross. “We looked at some scenes and talked about the part a little bit. He said ‘I’d like you to do this part’ and they had been filming a little bit.”

It only gave Dano a few days to be able to prepare to play Eli, a boy preacher locked in an intense battle with the oilman. That role was played by Day-Lewis, who had a year to prepare for the role.

Much like the conversation around the cult following for Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” it’s a mystery as to why Anderson pivoted to give Dano the additional part.

Dano has been critically acclaimed for not only his turn in “There Will Be Blood,” but also for his work in other projects including “Little Miss Sunshine,” and “The Fabelmans.” CNN has reached out to his reps for comment.

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