Quentin Tarantino at the Burbank Film Festival GalaImage by INSTARImages.com
By
Dalton Norman
Published 30 minutes ago
Dalton is a freelance writer, novelist, and filmmaker from Orlando Florida. He currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and pursues writing full-time. He is an avid reader, film buff, and amateur historian who also publishes novels on the side. Dalton graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BFA in Film and he often applies his industry-specific knowledge when writing about film and television. Along with his blog, Dalton's critical essays on film have been published in various places online.
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Quentin Tarantino spoke his mind about Paul Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood, and the legendary filmmaker couldn't be further off the mark. Revolutionizing cinema in the 1990s, films like Pulp Fiction helped cement Tarantino as the auteur of his generation. He's also known for his strong opinions about movies, and he isn't afraid to share them.
When discussing Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, Tarantino was ready to rank it among his favorite modern films, if not for one flaw. Tarantino described Paul Dano's performance as "weak sauce", before tearing into his dual role as Paul and Eli Sunday. While Tarantino is certainly a film expert, his assessment of Dano is misguided and, frankly, unprofessional.
Paul Dano's Performance Is Even Better Considering The Circumstances
Eli holds a wine glass in There Will Be Blood
A few years into his career, Paul Dano was cast in the role of Paul Sunday in There Will Be Blood. However, Dano was asked to step in as Paul's brother, Eli, and they suddenly became twins. Dano himself has acknowledged he had no time to prepare, a challenge for any actor at any stage in their career.
With all that in mind, it's even more astonishing that Dano was able to turn in such a compelling performance. Working opposite a powerhouse like Daniel Day-Lewis must have been incredibly intimidating for a young performer, but Dano more than held his own. What Tarantino doesn't see in Dano's performance is his subtlety.
Paul Dano was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in There Will Be Blood.
The character of Daniel Plainview is so unabashedly vile on the surface, that a subtle character like Eli is bowled over by his sheer will. Nevertheless, Eli represents the complex juxtaposition of faith and evil, and Dano's performance captures every note of the movie's deeper themes. Doing all that on short notice makes the feat all the more astonishing.
The entire point of the film was lost on Quentin Tarantino when he called Paul Dano "a weak, weak, uninteresting guy." While his performance as Eli isn't bombastic, it is rich and terrifying in its simplicity and realism. The movie's themes weave through all aspects of the film, but anything below the surface clearly didn't appeal to Tarantino.
Dano Has More Than Proven Himself As An Amazing Actor
Paul Dano lays in bed while crying in Little Miss Sunshine
While Quentin Tarantino is certainly allowed to dislike Paul Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood, his comments seem very personal. He called Dano "The weakest f*****g actor in SAG," which goes far beyond a simple disagreement over style or taste. Comparing performers is entirely subjective, but Dano has more than proven himself to be a terrific actor.
In Little Miss Sunshine, Dano played an angsty teen with realistic aplomb. While years later he would convincingly play Batman's nemesis, The Riddler, in The Batman. Even if Dano doesn't have the widest range in Hollywood, there's a reason he's worked with directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, Bong Joon Ho, and Steve McQueen.
In an earlier assessment of Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood, Tarantino said "there's nothing bad about it, it just does seem a compromise." The crux of his argument being that Dano paled in comparison to Day-Lewis. While unfair, the argument is certainly not insulting. However, Tarantino's most recent barb is a jarring reversal of that civility.
It's unclear exactly why Quentin Tarantino hates Paul Dano, but his takedown of the actor in There Will Be Blood went far beyond Dano's performance. Regardless of the reason, it's safe to say that Dano won't be appearing in Tarantino's 10th and final film whenever he finally gets around to making it.
9.0/10
10/10
There Will Be Blood
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed R Epic Drama Release Date December 26, 2007 Runtime 158 minutes Director Paul Thomas Anderson Writers Paul Thomas AndersonCast
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There Will Be Blood
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