Matthew Lillard says Tarantino slight sparked outpouring 'like living through your own wake'

Matthew Lillard says he was overwhelmed by the support that followed Quentin Tarantino's comment that he 'didn't care for' Lillard as an actor, calling the reaction 'like living through your own wake' in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The piece notes Tarantino, director of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, had also dismissed Paul Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood on a separate occasion and then doubled down on his view of Lillard during an appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.

Lillard said he was initially 'hurt' by the remarks, but the outpouring of praise from fans and colleagues felt like the tributes people see after someone dies: 'All those R.I.P. emails or tweets and Instagram posts and TikToks... I just got to live through all of it firsthand — alive and kicking!' He added that nobody has to like him and that preference is personal.

The story says Lillard has kept working across genres, continuing to voice Shaggy in Scooby-Doo animated films, appearing in Mike Flanagan's The Life of Chuck, and briefly in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 with a tease his character will return. For 2026 he has roles in Scream 7 — essentially confirmed to reprise Stu Matcher, one of the original killers — and as Mr.

Charles in Daredevil: Born Again season 2. According to the report, Tarantino's comments did not slow Lillard's career and may have increased attention on his work; details about his Mr.

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