George Clooney said he was “honored” to work with the three actors who were heavily criticized by director Quentin Tarantino last month. Speaking at the AARP Adult Film Awards on January 10, Clooney said, “By the way, it’s an honor to work with Paul Dano, Owen Wilson, Matthew Lillard, all those actors. It’s an honor.”
Clooney went on to say that his new film, Jay Kelly directed by Noah Baumbach, is “a movie made by people who love actors. That’s the important part. The people I’ve known best in my life…actually, most of them are actors. I feel very close to them.” [for them]And I don’t like seeing people be cruel. ”
“We live in cruel times,” Clooney concluded. “There’s no need to add that.”
In December 2025, Tarantino faced significant backlash for criticizing actors Paul Dano, Matthew Lillard, and Owen Wilson during an appearance on Bret Easton Ellis’ podcast. The director said that if it weren’t for co-star Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood would have ranked higher than No. 5 on his personal list of the best films of the century.
“[It] “There’s a good chance it could be No. 1 or No. 2 unless there’s a major flaw…and that flaw is Paul Dano,” Tarantino said. [Dano] The sauce is weak, dude. She’s a weak sister. ”
Tarantino went on to describe Dano as “a very weak, weak, unfunny guy” and “the weakest shitty actor in the Screen Actors Guild,” and admitted that he has never enjoyed Dano’s performance in anything. “I don’t care about him. I don’t care about Owen Wilson or Matthew Lillard.”
Clooney previously co-starred with Lillard in Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning film Descendants (2011) and with Wilson in Wes Anderson’s stop-motion film Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). He hasn’t worked with Dano yet.
In the wake of Tarantino’s attacks, many of Dano’s former colleagues came to his defense, including Ben Stiller, The Batman director Matt Reeves, and Day-Lewis. Dano’s rep told the Guardian he agreed with the sentiments expressed in an Instagram fan post that declared Dano “one of the best and most talented actors of his generation.”
Speaking at a fan convention days after Tarantino’s criticism, Lillard said his words were hurtful. “It’s fucking awful,” he said. “And you wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn’t say that to an A-list actor in Hollywood. I’m very popular in this room. I’m not very popular in Hollywood. They’re two completely different microcosms, right? So, you know, it’s humbling and it’s hurtful.”
Wilson has not yet commented.
Clooney and Tarantino co-starred in Robert Rodriguez’s 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn, but they haven’t worked together since then, and their relationship has taken a turn for the worse.
“Quentin has said some horrible things about me lately, so I’m a little annoyed with him,” Clooney said. GQ last year. “He did an interview in which he listed the names of movie stars, and he said things like: [Brad Pitt]and someone else, and this guy said, “So, what about George?” He said, “He’s not a movie star.” ”