Quentin Tarantino Was Called Out for Publicly Criticizing Actors by the Former Star of One of His Movies

Once actors become movie stars, they will have to deal with a lot of criticism. In most cases, however, the snarky remarks aren't coming from other figures within the Hollywood ecosystem. That unfortunately hasn't been the case lately for Paul Dano or Matthew Lillard as both recently had their acting skills very publicly criticized by Quentin Tarantino.

In response to Tarantino's remarks, Lillard admitted that it affected him to be criticized by the widely respected writer and director. On top of Lillard's reaction, many observers have called out Tarantino for unnecessarily insulting the two actors in ways that garnered headlines all over the world. One thing that many of those fans don't realize is that before the current controversy began, Tarantino was called out for his critical comments by the former star of one of his movies.

George Clooney Expressed Frustration With Quentin Tarantino’s Comments About His Career Months Ago

In 1996, George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino co-starred in the movie From Dusk till Dawn as Seth and Richie Gecko, respectively. On top of acting in the project, Tarantino also wrote the script for the film that played a pivotal role in helping Clooney become a movie star. Despite that, Clooney called his former co-star out years later because, in a funny twist of fate, Tarantino claimed that George wasn't a movie star anymore.

In August 2024, Clooney and Brad Pitt were interviewed together for a GQ profile. During that conversation, From Dusk til Dawn came up, which inspired Clooney to express his frustrations with Tarantino for remarks the director had made about him.

“Quentin said some (s—t) about me recently, so I’m a little irritated by him. He did some interview where he was naming movie stars, and he was talking about [Brad Pitt], and somebody else, and then this guy goes, “Well, what about George?” He goes, he’s not a movie star. And then he literally said something like, “Name me a movie since the millennium.” And I was like, “Since the millennium? That’s kind of my whole (f-----g) career. So now I’m like, all right, dude, (f—k) off. I don’t mind giving him (s—t). He gave me (s—t).”

While considering those remarks from Clooney, it is important to note that he is known for having a sharp sense of humor and often being sarcastic. As a result, he may not have been as irritated with Tarantino as that quote makes it seem. No matter how Clooney was feeling at the time, however, his remarks show that famous actors have a history of taking note of Tarantino's comments about them and responding publicly. Despite that, the recent scandal involving Paul Dano and Matthew Lillard shows that Tarantino is likely to continue to be blunt in public about his opinions on famous actors.

What Quentin Tarantino Said About George Clooney That Got Him Called Out Publicly

When George Clooney said that Quentin Tarantino had recently stated the actor wasn't a movie star during his GQ interview, that wasn't entirely true. Instead, Tarantino had made those remarks more than a year before Clooney and Brad Pitt's interview was published by GQ. It was a July 2023 Deadline article written by Baz Bamigboye that quoted Tarantino talking about Clooney's career.

As Deadline's article revealed, Tarantino and Bamigboye were talking about the state of Hollywood when they were at Cannes together. During that discussion, the two men agreed that Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, and Harrison Ford are movie stars. However, when Deadline's writer brought him up, Tarantino disputed that Clooney is a movie star.

“Well, it’s been a long while since I think George Clooney has drawn anybody to an audience. When was the last time that he had a hit in this millennium? Well, I’m asking you, when was his last hit where he drew an audience?”

Despite Tarantino's assessment of his career, Clooney has starred in some extremely successful movies since the year 2000. Some examples of that include all three Ocean's movies, The Perfect Storm, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Up in the Air, and Gravity.