Ryan Reynolds has recruited Matthew Lillard to star in an advertisement for his Mint Mobile brand in the wake of Quentin Tarantino’s disparaging comments about the Scooby-Doo actor.
Last weekend, Lillard admitted it “f***ing sucks” that the Pulp Fiction writer director had shared a public criticism of him during a controversial podcast appearance.
The Oscar-winning writer and director made a number of remarks about Lillard and fellow actors Paul Dano and Owen Wilson, during an interview on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.
The new advert for Mint Mobile makes reference to the controversy. In a voiceover, Reynolds can be heard saying: “There are only two things that are universally loved: saving money and beloved actor Matthew Lillard.”
Lillard responds: “Oh! I appreciate it. It’s not unanimous, you know?”
Reynolds continues: “Okay, there’s only one thing that’s universally loved.”
A recent TikTok showed Lillard telling fans at GalaxyCon in Columbus, Ohio: “Quentin Tarantino this week said he didn’t like me as an actor,” prompting boos from the audience.
The actor, known for roles in the slasher film Scream, as Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo movies and in hit series such as NBC’s Good Girls, added: “Eh, whatever. Who gives a s***.”
The Five Nights at Freddy’s star continued: “The point is that it hurts your feelings. It f***ing sucks. And you wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood.”
Tarantino, 62, reserved particular venom for Dano, while ranking Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood – in which Dano stars opposite Daniel Day Lewis – among the best films of the 21st century.
The director said the movie “would stand a better chance to be in number one or number two if it didn’t have a big giant flaw in it”.
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“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.”
“[Dano] is such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,” he added. “The weakest f***ing actor in [the Screen Actors Guild].”
He later added Lillard and Wilson to his list of actors he dislikes: “I’m not saying [Dano is] giving a non-entity performance]. I don’t care for him. I don’t care for Owen Wilson. I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”
Speaking to his audience, Lillard remarked that he was “very popular in this room. I’m not very popular in Hollywood… two totally different microcosms, right? And so, you know, it’s humbling and it hurts.”
Tarantino’s comments sparked widespread criticism among film fans as well as filmmaker Matt Reeves, who directed Dano as the Riddler in The Batman.
“Paul Dano is an incredible actor, and an incredible person,” Reeves stated simply on X, shortly after Tarantino’s comments.