Quentin Tarantino critiques key role in Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece

Quentin Tarantino isn’t holding back on his opinion of Paul Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood. 

Speaking on The Bret Easton Ellis podcast, the filmmaker revealed his picks for the best films of the 21st century — and while he ranked the 2007 Paul Thomas Anderson classic at number five, he said one issue kept it from landing higher.

“It would stand a better chance to be in number one or number two if it didn’t have a big giant flaw in it,” Tarantino said. 

“And the flaw is Paul Dano. Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. … He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”

Tarantino emphasized that Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar-winning performance ultimately carried the film. “Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he doesn’t need [a strong foil in the movie]. He doesn’t need anything. 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.”

When Ellis suggested Day-Lewis’ towering presence may have overshadowed Dano, Tarantino pushed back sharply: “So you put him with the weakest male actor in SAG? The limpest d**k in the world?”

He clarified he wasn’t calling Dano’s work disastrous. “I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance. 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.”

There Will Be Blood went on to win two Academy Awards — best actor for Day-Lewis and best cinematography — and earned eight nominations overall. 

In its original 2007 review, THR praised the film as “a certain awards contender,” noting, “Daniel Day-Lewis stuns in Paul Thomas Anderson’s saga of a soul-dead oil man.”