Quentin Tarantino is a pretty big fan of There Will Be Blood, but according to the prickly director, he’d like it even more without Paul Dano.
Tarantino has been unveiling his top 10 films of the 21st century on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast. He put Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood at No. 5, though it “would stand a good chance at being #1 or #2 if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it … and the flaw is Paul Dano.”
As transcribed by Deadline, this is what he said of the film:
“Daniel Day-Lewis. The old-style craftsmanship quality to the film. It had an old Hollywood craftsmanship without trying to be like that. It was the only film he’s ever done, and I brought it up to him, that doesn’t have a set piece. The fire is the closest to a set piece. This was about dealing with the narrative, dealing with the story, and he did it fucking amazingly. There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being #1 or #2 if it didn’t have 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. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest fucking actor in SAG [laughs].”
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Tarantino is still planning on retiring after his 10th movie — though what it might be, he doesn’t yet know. He’s also collaborating on an upcoming Netflix sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood with David Fincher, who will direct, and he’s been kicking around an idea for a Kill Bill prequel while preparing the release of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.
As for Dano, he last performed in Adam Sandler’s 2024 Netflix movie, Spaceman.