Movie fans are scratching their heads after acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino launched an extraordinary attack on an award-winning actor.

During an appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast this week, the Pulp Fiction director described actor Paul Dano as a “weak sister” and the “weakest male actor in SAG (the Screen Actors Guild”.

While ranking his favourite movies, Tarantino said Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 epic, There Will Be Blood, landed at No.5 for him, but only because he thought Dano was miscast opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.

“There Will Be Blood would stand a better chance to be in No.1 or No.2 if it didn’t have a big giant flaw in it, and the flaw is Paul Dano,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”

Tarantino said “another terrific actor” could have balanced Day-Lewis’ performance, nominating Austin Butler, despite the fact that Butler was only 16 when the movie was made.

His first movie role came in 2009 with unheralded family movie Aliens in the Attic.

Butler’s first movie role came two years after There Will Be Blood. Photo: Fox

“Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. [Dano] just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,” Tarantino persisted.

Podcast host Bret Easton Ellis attempted to defend Dano, but Tarantino dismissed his arguments, saying Day-Lewis’ presence only magnified the problem.

“So you put him with the weakest male actor in SAG? The limpest d–k in the world?” the filmmaker said.

“I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance. I’m saying he’s giving a non-entity performance.”

Tarantino, who has never worked with Dano and has no known history with the actor, said he simply wasn’t a fan of Dano’s work.

“I don’t care for him. I don’t care for him, I don’t care for Owen Wilson, and I don’t care for Matthew Lillard,” he said.

Dano (right) won multiple awards for Little Miss Sunshine. Photo: Fox Searchlight

There Will Be Blood was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 2008, winning best actor for Day-Lewis and best cinematography for Robert Elswit.

Dano has won numerous awards, including a SAG award and a Critics Choice Award for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. He has also been nominated for Emmys, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.