George Clooney "would be honoured" to work with Paul Dano, Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.

The Jay Kelly actor used his acceptance speech at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards at the weekend to defend the three stars after their talents were criticised by director Quentin Tarantino on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast last month.

Accepting the Best Actor prize for Jay Kelly, George noted the movie is "about... and made by people who love actors" and said he doesn't "enjoy watching people be cruel to actors."

He added: "By the way, Paul Dano, Owen Wilson, and Matthew Lillard? I would be honoured to work with those actors. Honoured!

"We're living in a time of cruelty, and we don't need to be adding to it.

"I'm very happy to be here. Very happy to see all of you, and thank you for this, and thank you for... It's gonna be a long, tough couple of years, but we'll all get through it together, okay?"

Pulp Fiction filmmaker Tarantino had named Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 drama There Will Be Blood as his fifth-favourite movie of the 21st century, but admitted it would have been higher in the list if he hadn't been so unimpressed by Dano's performance alongside Daniel Day-Lewis.

Speaking on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, he said: "There Will Be Blood would stand a better chance to be in number one or number two if it didn't have a big giant flaw in it, and the flaw is Paul Dano.

"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.

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

"I'm not saying he's giving a terrible performance.

"I'm saying he's 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."

George isn't the only star who spoke out to defend the Swiss Army Man star afterwards.

Filmmaker Matt Reeves took to social media to describe the star, who he directed in 2022 movie The Batman, as "an incredible actor".

Reeves wrote on X: "Paul Dano is an incredible actor, and an incredible person."

Hollywood actor Ben Stiller replied to Reeves' message with a Hallelujah emoji, and he also praised Paul, 41, on his own X account.

He posted: "Paul Dano is f-ing brilliant (sic)"

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu also praised the Fabelmans actor.

He wrote on X: "idk man i think paul dano is an incredible actor (sic)"

Ethan Hawke later praised the outpouring of positivity the actor had experienced in the wake of the "hateful" tirade from Tarantino.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan podcast, Ethan said: "I don't think Paul Dano ever knew that so many people loved him.

"He's gotta wake up one morning and find out this director's went off on him and saying these hateful things, but anyone who knows Quentin knows he just talks and talks.

"Anyone who knows Paul knows he's a world-class human being.

"All this love for Paul is coming out. There's a great lesson in that. You don't have to worry about the negativity people send your way."