Overview
- Know Your Meme on December 9 documented that the widely shared image is an edit reportedly derived from a Starr–Hoechlin red-carpet photo, with Tarantino and Dano inserted.
- The edit was first posted on X by @KeiziTV on December 7, drawing roughly 289,000 likes and 18,000 reposts within two days.
- The image quickly migrated to Facebook and Reddit, where posts amassed tens of thousands of reactions, shares, upvotes, and comments across multiple pages and subreddits.
- Users remixed the format into numerous variants, including Dark Souls invasions, glowing eyes edits, Batman–Riddler nods, and comparisons to the Undertaker Behind AJ Styles meme.
- The meme activity followed Tarantino’s December 2 podcast remarks calling Paul Dano “weak sauce” and “the weakest… in SAG,” which prompted broad online defenses of Dano.