Paul Dano is one of Hollywood’s greatest actors. I am willing to bet that most Ugandans don’t know that name.
But they have seen him in There Will Be Blood. He played Paul and Eli Sunday. He also appeared in Little Miss Sunshine, 12 Years A Slave, and The Batman (where he played the Riddler). You will be hard-pressed to find a better actor in his age range.
So, imagine everyone’s surprise when Quintin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, etc) lobbed unprovoked verbal attacks at the man. Quintin was on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast when he veered off the beaten path, calling Dano the weakest actor in Hollywood.
Owen Wilson and Mathew Lillard (Shaggy in the ‘Scooby-Doo live-action films) were equally criticized. No one asked Quintin to name his worst actors, hence the confusion. People have speculated that Quintin and Dano may have a private beef.
Quintin is well known for his reckless honesty in interviews and podcasts. He does not hesitate to speak his mind. George Clooney was less than amused when the director suggested in an interview that Clooney had not starred in a good film in more than two decades.
Additionally, Quintin has repeatedly trashed superhero films, arguing that the genre was slowly destroying Hollywood, a sentiment that big names such as Tom Hanks vehemently opposed.
He famously refuses to financially support his mother because the woman opposed his decision to pursue writing as a career. The director was already writing scripts at the tender age of 12.
Rather than praising her son’s creative genius, the director’s mother poured water on his dreams. Quintin took her words to heart and revealed that he has no intention of buying her a car, a house, or any of the financial gifts that successful actors and directors often give their parents.
The subject matter of his films has only served to taint the director’s image in the eyes of some viewers. It is not just the excess violence and crass language. His obsession with feet and the N-word has encouraged certain pockets of the viewing public to perceive him as a creep.
The Dano comments were merely the icing on the cake. Not that it matters. For all the backlash he has received, Quintin is still lauded as a master filmmaker. Paul Dano has no complaints at the moment. Quintin’s harsh comments have encouraged every major actor and filmmaker to heap praise on his name.
They have also criticized Quintin for muddying the waters with his supposedly classless comments. Hollywood tends to frown on actors and filmmakers who publicly attack one another’s art.
When Chris Stuckman (the popular YouTube film critic) decided to venture into Hollywood, he publicly announced that he would no longer review films he did not like because he was now a filmmaker.
The notion of attacking his peers in the industry made him uneasy. That attitude is prevalent in most corners of the industry. Knowing the challenges actors and musicians must overcome to make their art should encourage each of them to temper their criticism of fellow artists.
I don’t think that mindset exists in Uganda. The internet is littered with comments from Ugandan artists who are seemingly eager to criticise one another’s art, and I don’t know if that is a bad thing. Maybe it creates a tense environment behind the scenes.
However, you cannot succeed in the entertainment arena without a thick skin. You cannot improve your art without learning to receive and internalize criticism, and who better to criticize you than your fellow artist? Although that doesn’t excuse Quintin’s comments, which were obviously baseless and unjustified.
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