Matthew Lillard Says Quentin Tarantino Jibes Felt Like A ‘Punch In The Mouth’

Matthew Lillard has admitted he had a profound reaction to the support he received after Quentin Tarantino’s recent disparaging comments about him.

Late last year, during an interview on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino said he didn’t “care for” Lillard, as well as taking shots at fellow actors Paul Dano and Owen Wilson.

Talking to People magazine, the Scream actor joked that the outpouring of love he received in the wake of the controversial interview made him feel like he was going to his own funeral.

“It felt like I had died and was in heaven watching everyone send out their RIP tweets,” he explained, adding that the likes of George Clooney and Superman director James Gunn had “been really generous” by sticking up for him and “telling me how much they loved me and liked my work”.

“I mean, it was really nice being a part of your own wake, sort of sitting there living through all the nice things people say after you die,” the Scooby-Doo star quipped.

He admitted that Tarantino’s remarks were especially painful because he had previously been a big fan of the Pulp Fiction director, and would “love” to work with him in the future.

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

“I think he’s a lovely filmmaker, and to just sort of get punched in the mouth was kind of a bummer,” he admitted.

Lillard first addressed Tarantino’s comments in December during an appearance at GalaxyCon in Ohio.

Reflecting on what had been said, Lillard admitted his feelings had been hurt, and that it “fucking [sucked]” that the One Upon A Time In Hollywood director had aired his negative views.

“You wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood,” he said.

While Paul Dano never commented publicly on Tarantino calling him the “weakest fucking actor in SAG,” he did admit the many comments defending him were “nice”.

“I was also incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me so I didn’t have to,” Dano told Variety earlier this year.

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Hugh Grant ‘Enormously Surprised’ To Hear Which Of His Films Quentin Tarantino Loves

Hugh Grant has revealed Quentin Tarantino surprised him when he revealed his favourite film from the British actor’s vast back catalogue.

In a new interview with Letterboxd, the Heretic star recalled a “weird experience” at an event in London, in which a “sweaty person pushed his way through the crowd to me”, only to reveal himself as the Pulp Fiction filmmaker.

“To my enormous surprise, he said, ‘Oh, man, I love Music And Lyrics’,” Hugh continued.

“He said he watched it on a plane, and was so disappointed that the plane landed before the film ended, that he had to quickly go and order it from Blockbuster or something. And I thought, ‘Surely not, not Quentin Tarantino’…?”

Music And Lyrics featured Hugh as a former 80s music icon, who leans on an unlikely source when he’s tasked with writing a new song for a modern-day pop star.

Elsewhere in his Letterboxd interview, Hugh opened up about shooting those musical scenes, admitting: “[The dancing in Music And Lyrics] was hell, because it was freeform, just kind of ‘express yourself’, ‘enjoy the music’, ‘feel it’ like a real rock star, and I’m so not that person, and I really struggled with that.

“I had to have my charming makeup lady in New York bring me little swigs of whisky in a 7Up bottle and a certain amount of lorazepam to really get in the mood for that one.”

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‘Dude, F*** Off’: George Clooney Fires Back At Quentin Tarantino After ‘Irritating’ Comment

During a joint interview with Brad Pitt in the September issue of British GQ magazine, George revealed he was “irritated” with the Pulp Fiction director, after the filmmaker claimed he wasn’t a real movie star.

Quentin said some shit about me recently, so I’m a little irritated by him,” the Gravity star explained. “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 [George Clooney] movie since the millennium.’ And I was like, ‘Since the millennium? That’s kind of my whole fucking career’.”

As Brad laughed, George continued: “So now I’m like, all right, dude, fuck off. I don’t mind giving him shit. He gave me shit.”

George and Quentin actually previously shared the screen in the 1996 horror movie From Dusk Till Dawn.

While the two-time Oscar winner didn’t actually direct the film in question, he did write it, and was seemingly heavily involved in the casting process, even selecting George because he thought they looked so similar.

And, George had some feelings about that comment, too, in a clip which resurfaced on social media last year…

Read George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s full interview in the September issue of British GQ, available on newsstands and via digital download from Tuesday 27 August.

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