Matthew Lillard Reacts to Quentin Tarantino Diss

During an appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, the Kill Bill director revealed three actors he simply doesn’t “care for,” after citing Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 film, There Will Be Blood, as one of his top 10 movies of the 21st century.

 “It would stand a better chance to be in number one or number two if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it,” Tarantino, 62, said of There Will Be Blood, ” … and the flaw is Paul Dano.”

“He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,” Tarantino added of Dano, before later adding, “I don’t care for Owen Wilson, I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”

While at GalaxyCon in Columbus, Ohio over the weekend, Lillard brought up Tarantino’s comments in a room packed full of fans.

“Quentin Tarantino this week said he didn’t like me as an actor,” said Lillard, which generated boos from the audience.

“Whatever, who gives a s–t.” he continued. “It hurts your feelings, it f–king sucks and he wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. He wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood.”

“I’m very popular in this room. I’m not very popular in Hollywood. Two totally different microcosms,” he continued, adding, “So it’s humbling, and it hurts.”

As he then took a pause, someone yelled, “We love you!” — with Lillard thanking them for the shoutout.

Tarantino’s comment about Lillard comes when the actor — who first rose to fame in the ’90s and 2000s with roles in Scream, the live-action Scooby Doo movies, She’s All That and Thirteen Ghosts — is having a major career resurgence.

Lillard credits that comeback to his role as the villainous William Afton in 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s — which was a massive hit at the box office, despite a same-day drop on streaming.

In the wake of that film’s success came a wave of mainstream projects for Lillard, including roles in the Five Nights sequel, Daredevil Season 2 at Disney+, Cross Season 2 on Prime Video, a Tony Gilroy movie with Pedro Pascal and David Harbour, and two Mike Flanagan projects — The Life of Chuck and the upcoming TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie.

He’ll also somehow return in Scream 7, despite his character — and OG killer — Stu Macher being taken out by a television set in the original movie.

TooFab’s Brian Particelli recently spoke with him about the quasi-comeback, with Lillard calling it a “crazy” time in his life.

“It’s been a really strange moment. I think a lot of it stems from the success of Five Nights. I think that sort of reinvigorated my career in a really profound way.”

“And I’m here for it,” he added, “I’m excited and just really grateful to get these opportunities again.”

For Lillard, now 55, with resurgence comes reflection.

“For so much of my career, it was always about like, ‘What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?’, climbing this ladder of like a career and success. And as you get older, it’s nice to every now and then stop and just appreciate how far up you’ve come,” he told TooFab. “Certainly in this moment, where I’m having all these things happening and having this like resurgence, you can’t help but to be grateful and just to be here, still working, still doing the thing I love and getting more opportunities than I’ve ever had.”

Check out the full interview with him above.