George Clooney has criticised Quentin Tarantino over recent “cruel” comments the filmmaker made aimed at the actors Paul Dano, Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.
In December 2025, Tarantino made headlines for a range of disparaging claims against the three men.
During an appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino listed There Will Be Blood as his fifth favourite film, but suggested there was one “big giant flaw in it”.
“And the flaw is Paul Dano,” the director claimed. “Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”
“I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance,” Tarantino continued. “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.”
Over the weekend, Clooney defended Dano, Wilson and Lillard after accepting the Best Actor award at AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards, for his role in the recent Netflix movie Jay Kelly.
“Jay Kelly is a film about and made by people who love actors,” Clooney said during his speech.
“It’s an important part of this … you know, people throughout this room and people I’ve known most of my life, actually, and most of them are actors, and I have a great affinity. I don’t enjoy watching people be cruel to actors.”
“By the way, Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard, I would be honoured to work with those actors. Honoured,” Clooney continued.
“We’re living in a time of cruelty. We don’t need to be adding to it,” the Oscar winner then added.
Clooney had starred with Tarantino in the 1996 Robert Rodriguez film From Dusk Till Dawn. He also shared the screen with Lillard in Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning 2011 film The Descendants, and co-starred with Wilson in Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Fantastic Mr Fox in the late 2000s. He has not worked with Dano, but is clearly a fan of his work.
In recent history, Clooney has also had a public back-and-forth with the opinionated director. “Quentin said some shit about me recently, so I’m a little irritated by him,” Clooney told GQ in a 2024 interview.
It wasn’t immediately apparent which Tarantino interview Clooney was quoting, but the director has a reputation for letting his opinion become well-known.
“He did some interview where he was naming movie stars, and he was talking about [Brad Pitt], and somebody else, and then this guy goes, ‘Well, what about George?’. He goes, he’s not a movie star,” he said.
Meanwhile, Matthew Lillard also responded to Tarantino’s comments during a December appearance at GalaxyCon.
“Quentin Tarantino this week said he didn’t like me as an actor. Eh, whatever. Who gives a shit,” the Scream actor said.
“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,” he added.
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