This is the kind of surgical take down I live for. Not even a Hanzo Hattori blade can cut this deep. "..never realizing that their “victory” is actually their eternal punishment." Good lord.
Brilliant, Sophie! What an utter ass. I loved everyone’s favourite philosopher/actor Ethan Hawke responding on a podcast about it basically saying Quentin is Quentin and no one takes any notice, but Paul Dano has come out of this knowing how loved he is. Every limp dick has a silver lining.
The bit that particularly narked me and had me arguing with fresh air all week is QT’s characterisation of TWBB as a two-hander. He loves that film, has raved about it for years. Two-hander?? The only possible second hand is Plainview’s moustache!
Tarantinos dialogue has always felt like a how a poser would think that heavy hitters would talk. Paul Dano doesn’t use the n word enough for Quentin. The limp dick insult is just so telling.
Fantastic as always Sophie! It is good to have you back.
I never knew about QT's stint on Broadway but man, that alone, the criticism and his response to it, is *so* illuminating. Though it is weird, in a way, because although it has always been fun to rag on his insert acting it was never something, to me at least, that totally derailed any of his films (and hey, the guy knew enough to literally blow himself up in Django).
Though you've hit the nail on the head twice over - "Tarantino became the exact thing that destroyed his dreams—the cruel critic who makes it personal, who targets the individual instead of the work" - be it his inability to move beyond or any sort of pushback or the immaturity that has always just oozed off his public persona. Yet there is definitely something deeper here, as it relates to everything with Dano/Lillard. Not just through the web of rejection that colours his acting experience (and that is for sure part of it, as you highlighted so well) but it is as if he is so scared to be viewed as, supposedly, irrelevant (as many of the filmmaker he once criticized?) that he decided that becoming a wall-to-wall annoyance at best and an utterly indefensible dick at worst, rather than the true champion he could be, was the only recourse. I don't know.
And it pisses me off that I don't know, I think, because I remember being so excited that I was able to see The Hateful 8 and Once Upon a Time both, opening weekend, in cinemas. Enough so, that I was able to put my personal reservations about how he carries himself aside in support of the work. But I don't see that happening a third time.
Fantastic, a comprehensive burial. QT’s recent behavior along with the prospect of Courtney Love joining Substack make me wish I had a pasture to put my fading Gen X icons out into.
Yeah, it breaks my heart, cuz I actually love his work. And his own palpitating love and devotion to cinema are unquestionable.
That said, I think your diagnosis is spot-the-fuck-on. Underlying all this is the wannabe actor's deep-seated bitterness and trauma. And no amount of accomplishment, no matter how profound, can ameliorate it. Because it is, in fact, what PROPELS those accomplishments. "I'm gonna PROVE that I'm the best!" howls from his every word and deed.
But in the immortal (and spectacularly cruel) words of Jane Hamsher (in her book KILLER INSTINCT, about the making of NATURAL BORN KILLERS), "All the Oscars in the world ain't gonna fix that forehead." And it's exactly that kind of cruelty that periodically reduces him to the petty bullshit currently under discussion.
I think Quentin sees a guy like Paul Dano and thinks, "That should be MY career!" And it's so sad, because it's pure self-poisoning. Not just pointless, but entirely counterproductive. Undercutting all the brilliance of his writing, his camera moves, and his phenomenal work with genuine actors who have, over and over, given him their all.
I also really love your definition of edgelord, particularly because it draws a clear distinction between garden-variety pissants and genuine artistic shock-and-awers. The tragedy is that Tarantino is both, by turns. His art is superb. But that behavior? Just another fucking stupid reminder that hurt people hurt people.
And that vengeance in film can be awesome. But in life, it's just mostly pathetic.
This is the kind of surgical take down I live for. Not even a Hanzo Hattori blade can cut this deep. "..never realizing that their “victory” is actually their eternal punishment." Good lord.
Thank you so much for this comment. I had great material to work with 😂
You turned his receipts into origami. The films gods are pleased
Brilliant, Sophie! What an utter ass. I loved everyone’s favourite philosopher/actor Ethan Hawke responding on a podcast about it basically saying Quentin is Quentin and no one takes any notice, but Paul Dano has come out of this knowing how loved he is. Every limp dick has a silver lining.
The bit that particularly narked me and had me arguing with fresh air all week is QT’s characterisation of TWBB as a two-hander. He loves that film, has raved about it for years. Two-hander?? The only possible second hand is Plainview’s moustache!
Tarantinos dialogue has always felt like a how a poser would think that heavy hitters would talk. Paul Dano doesn’t use the n word enough for Quentin. The limp dick insult is just so telling.
Exactly
Yeah truly awful!!
I’m glad you’re back, you really are fucking fantastic at this.
Fantastic as always Sophie! It is good to have you back.
I never knew about QT's stint on Broadway but man, that alone, the criticism and his response to it, is *so* illuminating. Though it is weird, in a way, because although it has always been fun to rag on his insert acting it was never something, to me at least, that totally derailed any of his films (and hey, the guy knew enough to literally blow himself up in Django).
Though you've hit the nail on the head twice over - "Tarantino became the exact thing that destroyed his dreams—the cruel critic who makes it personal, who targets the individual instead of the work" - be it his inability to move beyond or any sort of pushback or the immaturity that has always just oozed off his public persona. Yet there is definitely something deeper here, as it relates to everything with Dano/Lillard. Not just through the web of rejection that colours his acting experience (and that is for sure part of it, as you highlighted so well) but it is as if he is so scared to be viewed as, supposedly, irrelevant (as many of the filmmaker he once criticized?) that he decided that becoming a wall-to-wall annoyance at best and an utterly indefensible dick at worst, rather than the true champion he could be, was the only recourse. I don't know.
And it pisses me off that I don't know, I think, because I remember being so excited that I was able to see The Hateful 8 and Once Upon a Time both, opening weekend, in cinemas. Enough so, that I was able to put my personal reservations about how he carries himself aside in support of the work. But I don't see that happening a third time.
Fantastic, a comprehensive burial. QT’s recent behavior along with the prospect of Courtney Love joining Substack make me wish I had a pasture to put my fading Gen X icons out into.
That Matthew Lillard quote is just so, so out of the blue. Was it also on the podcast?
Yeah it was all in the same interview (sentence even??). Totally random, it’s like he's been thinking about these 3 for a while: https://parade.com/news/quentin-tarantino-calls-beloved-star-the-weakest-male-actor-names-other-a-listers-he-doesnt-care-for
Dear Sophie --
Yeah, it breaks my heart, cuz I actually love his work. And his own palpitating love and devotion to cinema are unquestionable.
That said, I think your diagnosis is spot-the-fuck-on. Underlying all this is the wannabe actor's deep-seated bitterness and trauma. And no amount of accomplishment, no matter how profound, can ameliorate it. Because it is, in fact, what PROPELS those accomplishments. "I'm gonna PROVE that I'm the best!" howls from his every word and deed.
But in the immortal (and spectacularly cruel) words of Jane Hamsher (in her book KILLER INSTINCT, about the making of NATURAL BORN KILLERS), "All the Oscars in the world ain't gonna fix that forehead." And it's exactly that kind of cruelty that periodically reduces him to the petty bullshit currently under discussion.
I think Quentin sees a guy like Paul Dano and thinks, "That should be MY career!" And it's so sad, because it's pure self-poisoning. Not just pointless, but entirely counterproductive. Undercutting all the brilliance of his writing, his camera moves, and his phenomenal work with genuine actors who have, over and over, given him their all.
I also really love your definition of edgelord, particularly because it draws a clear distinction between garden-variety pissants and genuine artistic shock-and-awers. The tragedy is that Tarantino is both, by turns. His art is superb. But that behavior? Just another fucking stupid reminder that hurt people hurt people.
And that vengeance in film can be awesome. But in life, it's just mostly pathetic.
THANKS, SOPHIE!!! Turns out YOU are the best!