Ethan Hawke Speaks Out About The Upside Of Quentin Tarantino Criticizing Paul Dano—And He's Got A Point

Quentin Tarantino’s podcast appearance may be weeks old, but the fallout is not. His comments on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast included his dismissal of several performances from Owen Wilson, Matthew Lillard, and Paul Dano’s critically acclaimed performance in There Will Be Blood.

Yes, my fellow cinephiles, that There Will Be Blood—the 2007 Paul Thomas Anderson epic about capitalism, oil, and two men loudly unraveling in the desert.

It’s widely considered one of the best films of the 21st century and earned Dano a BAFTA nomination for holding his own opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. Yes, Mr. Lincoln himself.

But Tarantino was unimpressed and quite rude:

“Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, but it’s also drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. He is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest f**king actor in SAG.”

Predictably, this did not land well. Fans, actors, and filmmakers immediately came to Dano’s defense, pointing out that calling one of the most consistently respected character actors of his generation “weak sauce” might say more about the speaker than the performance.

I mean, you had Ben Stiller chime in on social media, calling Dano “brilliant,” while Simu Liu added that he is “an incredible actor.” And then Ethan Hawke entered the chat, not to escalate, but to calmly explain why Tarantino’s rant may have accidentally done Dano a favor.

Hawke addressed the controversy during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, offering a perspective that was equal parts empathetic and quietly devastating.

The Training Day actor reflected on the moment for Dano:

"There's a great lesson. You know what, I don't think Paul Dano ever knew that so many people loved him."

And Hawke and Dano aren’t just casual acquaintances. The two have worked together multiple times, including Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation, Antoine Fuqua’s The Guilty, the 2004 thriller Taking Lives, and the 2018 Broadway revival of True West. This wasn’t a vague industry defense but came from someone who knows Dano both professionally and personally.

Hawke expanded on the moment, framing Tarantino’s comments less as a meaningful critique and more as an example of how some directors process their own ideas out loud.

He explained:

“Paul Dano’s just going about his life, and he’s got to wake up one morning and find out this director just went off on him and is saying these hateful things. But anybody that knows Quentin knows he just talks, talks, talks.”

Hawke’s familiarity with Tarantino is not incidental; his former partner, Uma Thurman, starred in Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill films, placing Hawke squarely within Tarantino’s orbit for years.

Then came the pivot—the part the internet latched onto:

“Anybody that knows Paul knows he’s a great, world-class human being. And all this love for Paul is coming out. There’s a great lesson in that. You don’t have to worry about the negativity that people send your way.”

"I'm positive there are great directors that think I suck," Hawke said, sharing a story about a time an unnamed director gave him a backhanded compliment.

That self-awareness stood in stark contrast to Tarantino’s continued doubling down. Because, of course, Tarantino didn’t just criticize Dano—he also offered a casting alternative no one asked for.

Tarantino suggested:

“Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. Daniel Day-Lewis shows that he doesn’t need a strong foil. The movie needs it. He doesn’t need anything.”

And let’s be real, Butler proved he could do Elvis, but whether or not he could truly pull off The Batman’s Riddler chaotic energy is a very different question.

And if Tarantino’s opinion needed further counterweight, it arrived in the form of Daniel Day-Lewis himself. Following the podcast backlash, an Instagram post praised Dano as one of the finest actors of his generation. While initially shared by a fan account, Day-Lewis’s representatives later confirmed that the sentiment reflected his own view.

That endorsement carries extra weight, given that Day-Lewis personally recommended Dano for the role of Eli Sunday, a detail that makes Tarantino’s casting critique feel even more like an alternate-universe director’s cut.

The online response was swift and largely unified. Dano’s body of work, from Little Miss Sunshine to Love & Mercy, proves that the criticism says more about Tarantino’s preferences than Dano’s abilities. Listeners also noted the irony of Tarantino ranking There Will Be Blood among his favorite films of the century while singling out one of its most essential performances.

You can view the reactions to Hawke’s thoughts on Tarantino below:

Hawke ultimately closed his comments on a note that felt both affectionate and definitive:

“The punchline of this whole thing is I worked with Paul a couple of different times, and I love the guy, and I’m so happy for him. Every other comment everywhere is somebody saying something great about Paul Dano.”

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In the end, Tarantino’s remarks will likely fade into the ever-growing archive of his unsolicited actor opinions. The praise for the actors he singled out has already outlived the critique. Dano was both defended and celebrated. And thanks to Hawke’s steady reframing, the moment became less about one director’s opinion and more about how widely admired Dano truly is.

If that’s the downside of being criticized by Quentin Tarantino, it’s a pretty decent upside.