Matthew Lillard is opening up about the positive outcome after director Quentin Tarantino publicly dissed him.
In a new interview, the Scream actor revisited the time that the Kill Bill filmmaker said he didn’t “care for” the actor, as well as Paul Dano and Owen Wilson.
“It felt like I had died and was in heaven watching everyone send out their RIP tweets,” Lillard told People about the reactions he experienced following Tarantino’s criticism. “I mean, it was really being a part of your own wake, sort of sitting there living through all the nice things people say after you die.”
He added, “So it was really, really lovely. It was something that happened that was who cares, really? But I spoke out. I mean, I got caught on a hot mic talking about it, and then it sort of went viral from there.”
Lillard noted the support of George Clooney and Mike Flanagan as well as “the people at the mall this weekend with my kids,” adding, “I mean, people have sort of been really generous with telling me how much they loved me and liked my work.”
The Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 star said Tarantino’s perception of him “sucked” because he admires his work.
“I think he’s a lovely filmmaker, and to just sort of get punched in the mouth just was kind of a bummer,” he said.
Tarantino mentioned Lillard during an interview on The Bret Easton Ellis podcast, where he went on a full rant over Paul Dano’s performance on There Will Be Blood. Following the drive-by-attack, Lillard reacted to the comments during an appearance at GalaxyCon where he said, “Yeah, whatever. Who gives a s–. Listen, 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.”