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Matthew Lillard is reacting to Quentin Tarantino’s criticism of his acting.
While appearing at GalaxyCon in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, Dec. 6, the 55-year-old actor addressed the director’s recent viral comments on the Dec. 2 episode of the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. During the conversation with Ellis, Tarantino said, “I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”
Chatting with the audience at GalaxyCon, Lillard said, “Quentin Tarantino this week said he didn’t like me as an actor,” eliciting lots of loud boos, as seen in a video shared on TikTok.
“Yeah, whatever. Who gives a s—,” the Scream star said in reaction to the crowd’s boos.
“Listen,” he then continued, “the point is that it hurts your feelings. It f—— sucks.”
“And you wouldn’t say that to Tom Cruise,” he insisted. “You wouldn’t say that to somebody who’s a top-line actor in Hollywood.”
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Lillard went on to admit that while he’s “very popular in this room,” he’s “not very popular in Hollywood.”
“Two totally different microcosms, right?” he explained. “And so, you know, it’s humbling, and it hurts.”
An audience member then yelled out, “We love you,” prompting Lillard to smile and say, “Thank you.”
Tarantino, 62, didn’t just take aim at Lillard during his podcast appearance. During a discussion with Ellis about his top 10 movies of the 21st century, the Reservoir Dogs director called Paul Dano “the weakest male actor in SAG [Screen Actors Guild]” while discussing Dano’s 2007 western movie There Will Be Blood.
Dimension Films
Tarantino also said he “really can’t stand” Owen Wilson. He criticized Lillard despite not naming any of his movies in his top 10 list.
PEOPLE reached out to a representative for Tarantino for comment.
Lillard is best known for his roles in Scream, Scooby-Doo, The Descendants and Five Nights at Freddy’s.
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In September, the actor spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about his return to the Scream franchise for Scream 7, which is set to debut in theaters on Feb. 27. He shared that his decision to reprise his role as the horror-movie-obsessed accomplice to Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) wasn’t an easy one.
“I’m nervous, because at this point in my life, the only thing I can do is sort of ruin how people consider Stu,” he said of his character. “[Especially] if I come back and I suck or I was lame.”
“I haven’t seen the movie yet,” he admitted. “I don’t know if it works, but it’s a risk. And it’s a risk that I was excited to take.”
“At the same time, I’m nervous to see the outcome. I hope people like it,” Lillard added.
