by Ellen DurneyBuzzFeedBuzzFeed Staff Late last year, Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino sparked an online firestorm with some unprovoked remarks about the beloved actor Paul Dano. Kevin Winter / Getty Images, Jb Lacroix / Getty Images Discussing his top 20 movies of the 21st century on Bret Easton Ellis's podcast in December, Quentin said: "There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being Number 1 or 2 if it didn't have a big, giant flaw in it...and the flaw is Paul Dano...
He is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister." Frazer Harrison / Getty Images For context, There Will Be Blood is set in early 20th-century California and stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a ruthless oil prospector. Paul was just 22 when the Oscar-winning film was made, and in it he plays not one but two characters: identical twins Eli and Paul Sunday. (C)Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Though Paul's performance in the movie was widely praised by critics, Quentin slated the star both as an actor and a person, calling him "such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy." Branding Paul "the weakest fucking actor in SAG," Quentin also suggested that Austin Butler (who would've been about 16 when the movie came out in 2007) would've been a better choice for the roles. (C)Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection So, given that Paul is known to be a great actor and a nice person, Quentin's "vile" and "mean-spirited" comments sparked huge amounts of criticism online, with people calling him "wrong on so many levels." Laurent Hou / Getty Images And it wasn't just movie fans who were upset. A ton of Paul's Hollywood peers spoke out in support of him, including Reese Witherspoon, Ben Stiller, Alec Baldwin, Simu Liu, and Maya Rudolph, who also happens to be married to Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of There Will Be Blood. Nina Westervelt / Getty Images Miraculously, even Daniel Day-Lewis came out in defence of his There Will Be Blood co-star, which is pretty wild given how private he is. Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images Now, Paul has addressed the situation for the first time - and it sounds like he was deeply moved by people's support. Stefania D'alessandro / Getty Images Speaking with Variety ahead of a 20th anniversary screening of Little Miss Sunshine at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Paul was asked about the director's comments. But, before he could say anything, his Little Miss Sunshine co-star, Toni Collette, gave her thoughts on the matter first, saying: "Are we really going there? Fuck that guy! He must've been high...
It was just confusing. Who does that?" Arturo Holmes / Getty Images Paul then took a moment to express his gratitude for the outpouring of love and support he received from fans and peers. "That was really nice," he said. "I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me, so I didn't have to." Jb Lacroix / Getty Images What a brilliantly measured response! Moral of the story: keep your hate to yourself and don't fuck with Paul Dano. Comments