Quentin Tarantino revealed his unlikely beef with actor Paul Dano in a December 2025 interview.
The filmmaker raised eyebrows during an appearance on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” while discussing his top 20 movies of the 21st century. During their chat, Dano’s performance in the 2007 movie There Will Be Blood was mentioned.
Tarantino named There Will Be Blood as his fifth favorite movie since 2000 — with a caveat. The famed director explained he would have ranked the film much higher without Dano’s dual performances as brothers Paul and Eli Sunday. The filmmaker argued that Dano’s two performances paled in comparison to Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar-winning portrayal as conniving oilman Daniel Plainview.
“Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander,” Tarantino argued. “[Dano] is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”
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Keep scrolling for more information on Tarantino’s criticism of Dano and what exactly “weak sauce” means.
What Did Quentin Tarantino Say About Paul Dano?
Quentin Tarantino got into an extended discussion with “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” host Bret Easton Ellis — author of American Psycho — about director Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 movie There Will Be Blood.
The Old West drama revolves around oil spectator Daniel Plainview’s (Day-Lewis) showdown with a local preacher, Eli Sunday (Dano), about drilling in the town of Little Boston, after Plainview is tipped off about an oil deposit by Eli’s twin brother Paul (also Dano).
Tarantino named There Will Be Blood as his fifth favorite movie since 2000, but argued that a “big giant flaw” kept it from ranking higher — Dano’s dual performances as Eli and Paul Sunday. His biggest complaint was that Dano’s “weak sauce” portrayal as Eli Sunday was ineffective as a nemesis for Day-Lewis’ tour de force depiction of Daniel Plainview. (Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Awards at the Oscars and the BAFTAs for his work in There Will Be Blood in 2008.)
The filmmaker complained that Pano delivered an “uninteresting” performance overall in There Will Be Blood, before suggesting that “Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role.” (Butler was only 16 years old at the time of There Will Be Blood’s release and was, at that time, a cast member on Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide. Dano was 23 when he filmed the 2007 movie.)
“[Dano is] just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. . . Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he doesn’t need [a powerful onscreen foe]. He doesn’t need anything,” Tarantino argued. “The movie would’ve had more — there would’ve been more stringiness to the beef. And again, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s not.”
Ellis countered that it would have been difficult for any actor to go toe-to-toe with Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, given the Oscar winner’s powerhouse performance.
“So you put him with the weakest male actor in SAG? The limpest d*** in the world?” Tarantino shot back.
Despite Ellis counterarguments in Dano’s defense, the Once Upon in Hollywood director stood his ground.
“I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance,” Tarantino clarified. “I’m saying he’s giving a non-entity [performance]. I don’t care for him. I don’t care for Owen Wilson. I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”
NewsPlop has reached out to Dano’s representatives for comment.
Dano received critical acclaim for his two performances in There Will Be Blood at the time of the film’s release in 2007. He received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the BAFTAs in 2008 and was singled out by the prestigious Village Voice Film Poll Awards that same year.
What Is ‘Weak Sauce’?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “weak sauce” signifies someone or something that lacks “power, substance, or credibility.” It can also mean a “worthless, stupid, or pathetic person or thing.”
Merriam-Webster offers a similar assessment of the term, describing “weak sauce” as someone or something “inferior, ineffective, or unimpressive.”
A quirkier definition comes from the Urban Dictionary, which suggests “calling one ‘weak sauce’ compares said individual to the ‘mild’ sauce found at Taco Bell.”
“[Weak Sauce is] weak, insignificant [or] attempting to be like the other hot sauces, but not living up to expectations,” Urban Dictionary added.
How Did Fans React to Quentin Tarantino Shading Paul Dano?
Many listeners of “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” were baffled by Tarantino’s pointed takedown of Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood.
“Tarantino’s statement on Paul Dano is wrong on so many levels,” an X user fired back. “He holds himself strong opposite a legend like DDL (dare I say better that Leo [DiCaprio] in Gangs of New York even) he crafts rich character but also two different characters. It’s one of the great performances. It really is.”
“It’s been so nice to see the tidal wave of support for Paul Dano after this braindead take from Tarantino,” another X user contended. “Hugely disrespectful and just plain wrong!”
Another Dano defender even suggested that the Batman actor “has a better filmography than Tarantino.”
“Tarantino is one of my favorite directors ❤️ but when he expresses these unpleasant and exaggerated opinions it’s unbearable,” a Tarantino fan admitted. “Paul Dano was fantastic in this role, by the way.”
However, not everyone disagreed with Tarantino’s criticisms of There Will Be Blood.
“I agree with Tarantino, Paul Dano in TWBB never sat right with me,” an X user explained. “Especially across Daniel Day Lewis, he was meant to be the counterforce to his character and was just weak and infantile.”
Others felt bad that Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard were name-checked — seemingly out of nowhere — by Tarantino as some of his least-favorite actors.
“I didn’t realize Tarantino also said he thought Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard were s*** actors, damn,” one fan joked.
Another X user pointed out, “Lmao people are forgetting that he not only talked bad about Paul Dano, but ALSO apropos of nothing also talked shit about Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard. Tarantino is such a baseless asshole.”