George Clooney<\/span><\/a> has criticised <\/span>Quentin Tarantino<\/span><\/a> over recent \u201ccruel\u201d comments the filmmaker made aimed at the actors Paul Dano<\/a>, Owen Wilson<\/a> and Matthew Lillard<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In December 2025, Tarantino made headlines for a range of disparaging claims against the three men.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n During an appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast<\/a>, Tarantino listed There Will Be Blood as his fifth favourite film, but suggested there was one \u201cbig giant flaw in it\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAnd the flaw is Paul Dano,\u201d the director claimed. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s supposed to be a two-hander, and it\u2019s also so drastically obvious that it\u2019s not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He\u2019s a weak sister.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying he\u2019s giving a terrible performance,\u201d Tarantino continued. \u201cI\u2019m saying he\u2019s giving a non-entity [performance]. I don\u2019t care for him. I don\u2019t care for Owen Wilson, I don\u2019t care for Matthew Lillard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Over the weekend, Clooney <\/span>defended Dano, Wilson and Lillard<\/span><\/a> after accepting the Best Actor award at AARP\u2019s Movies for Grownups Awards, for his role in the recent <\/span>Netflix<\/span><\/a> movie Jay Kelly.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cJay Kelly is a film about and made by people who love actors,\u201d Clooney said during his speech. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an important part of this \u2026 you know, people throughout this room and people I\u2019ve known most of my life, actually, and most of them are actors, and I have a great affinity. I don\u2019t enjoy watching people be cruel to actors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBy the way, Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard, I would be honoured to work with those actors. Honoured,\u201d Clooney continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe\u2019re living in a time of cruelty. We don\u2019t need to be adding to it,\u201d the Oscar winner then added.<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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\u2019s Oscar-winning 2011 film The Descendants, and co-starred with Wilson in Wes Anderson\u2019s adaptation of Fantastic Mr Fox in the late 2000s. He has not worked with Dano, but is clearly a fan of his work.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In recent history, <\/span>Clooney has also had a public back-and-forth with the opinionated director<\/span><\/a>. \u201cQuentin said some shit about me recently, so I\u2019m a little irritated by him,\u201d Clooney told <\/span>GQ <\/span><\/a>in a 2024 interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It wasn\u2019t immediately apparent which Tarantino interview Clooney was quoting, but the director has a reputation for letting his opinion become well-known.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe did some interview where he was naming movie stars, and he was talking about [Brad Pitt], and somebody else, and then this guy goes, \u2018Well, what about George?\u2019. He goes, he\u2019s not a movie star,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/69665d171400003b2864c1f9.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale\")
<\/div>\n![\"Quentin](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/69665d521400004b2864c1fa.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale\")
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