What should’ve been a fun cinephile discussion was tainted by asinine and inappropriate comments. Director Quentin Tarantino revealed his top movies of the 21st century, which should have been an intriguing examination of his tastes but instead the focus turned to, once again, how much of a jerk the man can be. Tarantino is no doubt a brilliant filmmaker who has yet to make a bad film but as a person, he has always been hard to like, and his most recent comments about actor Paul Dano did him no favors. They say you have to separate the art from the artist, but someone like Tarantino makes that a truly difficult endeavor.

The latest discourse involving Tarantino emerged when he revealed his fifth-best movie of the 21st century as Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast. His initial appraisal of the film started with substantial praise for the movie and for the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis, and then it took an unnecessary, insulting pivot:

“Daniel Day-Lewis. The old-style craftsmanship quality to the film. It had an old Hollywood craftsmanship without trying to be like that. It was the only film he’s ever done, and I brought it up to him, that doesn’t have a set piece. The fire is the closest to a set piece. This was about dealing with the narrative, dealing with the story, and he did it fucking amazingly. ‘There Will Be Blood’ would stand a good chance at being #1 or #2 if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it…and the flaw is Paul Dano. Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest fucking actor in SAG [laughs].”

For those who don’t know, Dano portrays identical twin brothers Eli and Paul Sunday in There Will Be Blood. Eli is the main role that Dano takes on in the film as a manipulative but charismatic preacher, while Paul is only in one scene but serves an important purpose because he’s the first to tell Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) about the oil on the ranch. It’s a pretty solid performance, made all the more impressive once you know how Dano came into the role. The actor was first hired to only play Paul Sunday, but two weeks into shooting on the film, the original actor cast as Eli Sunday was fired, and Anderson then gave that role to Dano as well. The actor has stated in interviews that he only had four days to prepare to step into Eli’s shoes, and that was likely no easy task. Also, keep in mind, Dano earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his efforts.

No one is saying that Tarantino isn’t entitled to his own opinion. He could’ve even stated that he thought Dano was wrong for the role or that he believed he didn’t land it in a way that he felt was necessary for the film. The problem is all the asinine insults directed at him as an actor, which were unprofessional, unnecessary, and just outright cruel. Some might say his comments could’ve been taken out of context, but Tarantino is a guy whose comments are rarely taken that way, and it’s hard to view calling someone “weak sauce,” “the weak sister,” “a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,” and “the weakest fucking actor in SAG,” out of context. There is no constructive criticism in those comments. Nothing to be gained from putting Dano down other than making it clear once again that Tarantino is brilliant behind the camera but typically awful once he steps in front of the lens.

This schtick has been a part of his persona since he broke out in the industry. As someone who adores film and filmmaking, the part of Tarantino who has gifted us with his talents is to be admired. The man who was a video store clerk emerged as one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, giving us several classics along the way. He’s an encyclopedia of film knowledge, and that has shone brightly across all of his films. In a perfect world, he’d be a movie nerd’s dream. However, a lot of that changes when he opens his mouth. There is a way to express an opinion without being a condescending prick or having to engage in bullying behavior. This is especially true once you realize that Tarantino knows his position in Hollywood. He believes that what he will say will be taken as gospel. In some ways, he’s a bigger presence than Dano. Putting him down in this way might get him the laughs and praise of his most faithful followers, but the rest of us know better.

There have been other times that Tarantino has shown his true colors, and probably the most publicized were his reactions to Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, being upset about her father’s portrayal in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Following seeing the film, Shannon expressed why she was upset by her father’s portrayal in the film by saying, “It doesn’t come across that way. He comes across as an arrogant asshole who is full of hot air. And not someone who had to fight triple as hard as any of those people to accomplish what was naturally given to so many others.” Shannon then described what it was like to be uncomfortable in the movie theater as people laughed at her father during a scene where he’s depicted to go up against Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth by saying, “Here, he’s the one with all the puffery, and he’s the one challenging Brad Pitt. Which is not how he was.”

During the time of this controversy, the opinions on this seemed split. Some people respected the fact that Bruce Lee is her father, and she has been one of the people tasked with maintaining his legacy. Of course, she’s going to come out in defense of him, while others suggested it’s just a movie and his portrayal in a highly fictionalized tale of Hollywood shouldn’t be taken seriously. Tarantino could’ve respectfully addressed Shannon’s comments since it’s her father, and it would be no surprise she would defend him, but instead, he responded in typical Tarantino fashion as if he were an expert on all things Bruce Lee and was keenly aware of Bruce Lee’s arrogance. The director said, “Bruce Lee was kind of an arrogant guy. The way he was talking. I didn’t just make a lot of that up. I heard him say things like that to that effect. If people are saying, ‘Well, he never said he could beat up Muhammad Ali,’ well, yeah, he did. Alright? Not only did he say that, but his wife, Linda Lee, said that in her first biography I ever read. She absolutely said that.”

Keep in mind, Tarantino didn’t consult Bruce Lee’s family before using his likeness in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In fact, Shannon expressed that the director reached out to others in the industry about who Lee was as a person, and didn’t bother reaching out to the family. Granted, his portrayal in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is supposed to be heightened, much like everything else in the film, but Shannon is in charge of her father’s estate, and the respectful thing to do would’ve been to consult her, even if he may not have used any of the knowledge she would have given him. On the surface, it looks like he sidestepped the family because he knew they would be insulted by the portrayal he always intended to use for the film.

At the end of the day, he offered no apologies for how the Lee family may have been insulted by what he did. But he’s Tarantino; apologizing for anything doesn’t seem to come easy to him. Scratch that! He did apologize to Uma Thurman following a car crash during the filming of Kill Bill after he pressured her to drive an unsafe vehicle, resulting in permanent damage to her neck, but it took her years to get the footage from him depicting the crash, and he downplayed “forcing her” to do the stunt. Even when he’s doing the right thing, something about it still feels unsavory. At least he expressed it as “One of the biggest regrets of my life,” but with someone like him, is that really saying much?

Tarantino has always been able to mask a lot of his comments and behavior as being anti-Hollywood, which has gone a long way to increase his fan base over the years. The problem with that assertion is that it comes off as if it’s an excuse for him to be an absolutely terrible person. Even children know how to respectfully give their opinions or conduct themselves in public, but Tarantino, who is 62 years old by the way, continues to live in a world where respectful decorum doesn’t seem to apply to him. There is this air of arrogance as if he’s the last word on cinema and everything that comes along with it. It’s this kind of behavior that has made someone like me still respect his work, but begrudgingly and with a hard side-eye.

The great thing is seeing social media rally behind Dano following Tarantino’s comments, as well as other people who have worked with the actor. Mattson Tomlin, who has a co-writing credit with Matt Reeves on The Batman: Part II, took to his X page and said, “I am really pleased to see so many people cheer 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.” Dano previously portrayed The Riddler in Reeves’ The Batman, turning in another tremendous performance as Edward Nashton in the process. Dillon Freasier, who portrayed the young H.W. Plainview in There Will Be Blood, also chimed in by saying, “The film is perfect. It’s a work of art. And it’s that way because everyone was perfectly cast.” A quick search of various social media platforms will lead you to more praise for Dano and others calling out Tarantino’s unwarranted and unprovoked comments.

Tarantino is never going to change. This much is true. He is who he is, no matter how off-putting he can be. However, just because he’s at ease with being a prick doesn’t mean it can’t be called out, and perhaps the more people that do it, he’ll start to be held accountable for some of the things he says instead of it being a soundbite that many choose to shrug off.

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