‘The Batman’ director Matt Reeves defends Paul Dano amid Quentin Tarantino criticism

Posted On December 5, 2025December 5, 2025

The Batman director Matt Reeves has defended actor Paul Dano after Quentin Tarantino publicly criticised his performance in There Will Be Blood.

Recently, the iconic director took to The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast with the American Psycho author to name his top 20 movies of the 21st century. However, when landing on his fifth favourite movie, he had plenty of bad to add to the good.

After praising Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 epic, There Will Be Blood, which stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a ruthless oil prospector, Tarantino mused, “There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being one or two if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it … and the flaw is Paul Dano.”

Tarantino continued, “He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. [Dano is] just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest fucking actor in SAG [Screen Actors Guild].”

Plenty of figures from Hollywood have come to Dano’s defence amid the backlash, including Reeves. On December 4th, he wrote on social media, “Paul Dano is an incredible actor, and an incredible person.”

Reeves has a history with Dano, with whom he worked on The Batman. Dano played the villain, Riddler, who competed with Robert Pattinson’s stoic Batman.

Reeves’ The Batman sequel screenwriter also joined in on the discourse, writing, “I am really pleased to see so many people cheer on Paul Dano this week. Not only is he a terrific actor, but he’s an astonishing director who exudes control and tremendous empathy. Check out ‘Wildlife’ if you haven’t seen it.”

Additionally, Ben Stiller also caught wind of Tarantino’s tirade and wrote online, simply, “Paul Dano is fucking brilliant.” Dano is yet to comment on the matter.

Watch the original trailer for There Will Be Blood below.

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