Matthew Lillard responds after Quentin Tarantino slams his acting

Paul Dano has kept quiet after Quentin Tarantino labeled him the “weakest male actor in SAG” during a recent appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. 

But Matthew Lillard — another actor Tarantino singled out in the same episode — is speaking up.

Lillard addressed the remarks while appearing at GalaxyCon Columbus. In a video shared on TikTok, he told fans, “Quentin Tarantino this week said he didn’t like me as an actor.” 

The crowd responded with boos, but Lillard brushed it off, saying, “Eh, whatever. Who gives a shit.”

Still, he admitted the criticism stings. “The point is that it hurts your feelings. It fucking sucks. And you wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood.”

Tarantino’s comments came as he discussed his ranking of the best films of the 21st century. While praising Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, which he placed at no 5, he argued the film “would stand a better chance” at the top if not for what he called a major flaw: Dano.

“And the flaw is Paul Dano,” Tarantino said. “He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.” He later added Lillard and Owen Wilson to his list of actors he doesn’t “care for,” saying, “I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance. I’m saying he’s giving a non-entity performance.”

Lillard ended his GalaxyCon comments with a dose of honesty: “I’m very popular in this room. I’m not very popular in Hollywood… it’s humbling and it hurts.”

Dano hasn’t responded, but filmmaker Matt Reeves publicly defended him on X, writing, “Paul Dano is an incredible actor, and an incredible person.”