Morning everyone,
Quentin Tarantino has been in the news this week, after appearing on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast to announce his 20 favourite films of the 21st century. There were some wild takes – his No1 was Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down – but none more so than his view that There Will Be Blood would have ranked higher than No5 had Paul Dano not been cast as twins Paul and Eli Sunday. According to the director, Dano is the film's "giant flaw". Comparing Dano's performance with that of Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview. "Obviously, it's supposed to be a two-hander, but it's also drastically obvious that it's not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He's a weak sister.
"[Dano] is just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy," he continued. "The weakest f***ing actor in SAG. [The Screen Actors Guild]."
It was a bizarre outburst. Dano is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation, tremendous in pretty much everything he's in, from Little Miss Sunshine and Prisoners to The Batman and The Fabelmans. So quite why Tarantino has it in for his beyond me. Anyway. On the plus side, it's reminded me to re-watch There Will Be Blood this weekend – and enjoy two wonderful performances from Dano and Day-Lewis.
Also in the news this week was playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, who died at the age of 88. My colleague David Lister remembered the brilliant, complicated man whose work explored politics, science, love, Shakespeare, and even rock'n'roll.
Other features this week include Adam White's excellent profile of the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was sentenced to jail Monday, a few days after the interview had taken place. He spoke about his new film It Was Just an Accident, and why making art always trumps dire consequences.
Our critic Martin Chilton, meanwhile, ranked his favourite fiction and non-fiction books of the year, and I'm certainly with him on a few of these, most notably Charlotte Runcie's sharp, canny novel Bring the House Down.
Elsewhere, ahead of her intimate show to raise money for War Child, the Norwegian singer Aurora spoke to Hannah Ewens about how social media has ruined our capacity for empathy, and how she deals with her neurodivergence.
Finally, I went to see The Horse of Jenin, in which writer and comedian Alaa Shehada looks back on his childhood in Palestine in a quite brilliant solo show. Showing at the Bush Theatre in west London, it's funny and profoundly moving. I went into it not knowing much about it, except that it has (quite rightly) garnered five-star reviews. I'd highly recommend booking tickets.
More below, including my Saturday Interview with Billy Crudup. The star of Almost Famous and The Morning Show talked to me about forcing out tears in Jay Kelly, playing the lawman in High Noon, and bumping into 'golden god' Robert Plant.
Until next week...
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