Quentin Tarantino has chosen his favourite films of the 21st century And he called Paul Dano, one of the most interesting actors of his generation, weak

Two lists have shaken up the end of 2025. The first is one of the most eagerly awaited every year: the list of the best films from the highest international critical authority, the Cahiers du cinéma. The other, more unexpected, was released during The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. The author of The Shards and American Psycho invited Quentin Tarantino, who put on the table his ranking of the best films of the 21st century and threw out a few provocations—both about his favorite titles and about certain actors, especially Paul Dano.

A lifelong passionate cinephile, Tarantino has made a schizophrenic and uneven selection that nevertheless retains its own coherence and completely excludes a segment of cinema that the Cahiers du cinéma celebrate every year—without neglecting the occasional playful choice (it’s impossible to forget the presence of M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap on their 2024 list), yet always keeping a sharp eye on auteur cinema, as evidenced by this year’s top spot going to Albert Serra’s bullfighter documentary Tardes de Soledad.

What are Quentin Tarantino’s favorite films?

At the very top of Tarantino’s ranking of the best 21st-century films sits Black Hawk Down by Ridley Scott. Released in 2001, with a cast that includes Josh Hartnett, Tom Hardy, Ewan McGregor, and Eric Bana, it tells the story of a group of U.S. Rangers and Delta Force soldiers trying to take down a warlord in Somalia. A bold choice, not one of Scott’s most celebrated masterpieces. Placing Black Hawk Down at number one seems to say that entertainment cinema shouldn’t be excluded. It may also be a tribute to a director whose more obvious titles he perhaps couldn’t cite, opting instead for a film closer to his own taste. The same logic probably explains the inclusion of Unstoppable by Tony Scott, Ridley’s late brother, with whom Tarantino collaborated on True Romance.

Moving on, the director gives plenty of space to his contemporaries: Christopher Nolan with Dunkirk, David Fincher with Zodiac. The B-movies that shaped him return in different forms, from Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever to Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects. There’s a lot of comedy: from Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, to Jackass: The Movie, to Richard Linklater’s beloved School of Rock. There are screenplay-driven films like Midnight in Paris and Moneyball, even a remake—Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. And, with typical irreverence, Tarantino places Toy Story 3 in second place, right after Black Hawk Down. The only female director on the list is Sofia Coppola with Lost in Translation—a film tied not only to their early-2000s relationship but also to the Golden Lion he awarded her in 2010 as Venice jury president for Somewhere.

What did Tarantino say about Paul Dano?

Even great directors get it wrong sometimes. While discussing There Will Be Blood, which sits at number five, Tarantino called co-lead Paul Dano—alongside Daniel Day-Lewis—the weakest SAG actor. “There Will Be Blood would have had a real shot at being number one or two if it didn’t have one gigantic, enormous flaw: Paul Dano,” he said on the podcast. “It’s supposed to be a two-hander, but obviously it isn’t. Dano is disappointing, he’s the weak link in the duo. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in the role. He’s such a weak, uninteresting guy.”

A completely personal judgment—Tarantino also called Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard “uninteresting”—that reveals a certain blindness, given that since his very first roles Paul Dano has been unanimously regarded as one of those actors who has always deserved far more recognition than he has received, both from critics and audiences, with successes such as Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners, the recent The Batman, and of course Little Miss Sunshine. He is also a splendid director, as he proved with his 2018 directorial debut Wildlife.

An unpleasant outburst from Tarantino, both in tone and, above all, in content. Certainly unexpected in an era when talents are discouraged from even expressing their tastes, yet utterly baffling when directed at one of the finest actors of his generation—someone who not only holds his own opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood but actually stands toe-to-toe with him. A professional who even convinced Paul Thomas Anderson to let him play the dual role of the twins Paul and Eli, effectively making him Day-Lewis’s antagonist.

What are Quentin Tarantino’s next projects?

Ironically, we’ll soon see Quentin Tarantino back on screen as an actor. As reported by Deadline, he is set to appear in Only What We Carry by Jamie Adams alongside Simon Pegg and Charlotte Gainsbourg—his first proper acting role in thirty years since From Dusk Till Dawn. Many projects seem to be keeping him busy: after shelving The Movie Critic, he is working on the screenplay for The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to be directed by David Fincher. Meanwhile, his 2022 book Cinema Speculation, about his love affair with the seventh art, is out, and he is also expected to make his theater debut with an as-yet-untitled play that will premiere in London’s West End.

Yet back in January of this year, Tarantino told Variety that he is in no rush to return to the set—perhaps because he doesn’t want to say goodbye to directing. Maybe that’s the real reason for the wait: not truly wanting to leave cinema behind and therefore never making his “final film.” It’s understandable that the pressure is sky-high. The only thing we can say for sure is that Paul Dano won’t be in the cast of his next movie.

Takeaways

- On Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast, Quentin Tarantino revealed his personal ranking of the best 21st-century films, placing Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down at number one and Toy Story 3 at number two, with an eclectic selection ranging from Nolan to Rob Zombie and including plenty of comedies and pure entertainment titles.

- In the same episode, Tarantino harshly criticised Paul Dano, calling him “the weakest SAG actor” and the major flaw in There Will Be Blood (which he still ranked fifth), even saying Austin Butler would have been far better in the role.

- Among Tarantino’s upcoming projects are an acting role in Only What We Carry, the screenplay for David Fincher’s sequel centered on Cliff Booth, and a theatre debut in London’s West End, while the director admits he is in no hurry to shoot what would likely be his tenth and final film.