Following Martin Scorsese’s comments outright disowning anything Marvel Studios and its impact on film, journalists got a real kick out of asking precisely the same question to other well respected filmmakers, hopefully riling them up and getting just as venomous a response. James Cameron came out just recently to personally condemn theMCUand its storytelling approach. Collecting their comments below shows a litany of genuine gripes (more creative visions are being pushed aside forSpider-Man 5), while others show a sincere lack of self awareness (Cameron’s own game changing works on hisThe Abyssand thenT2paved the way for the kind of cutting edge CGI we are so used to today).
But the below quotes only tell half the story. In the same week that Cameron trash talked comic book movies, DC Studios announced universally beloved directorJames Gunn as their co-CEOand co-chair going forward. Elsewhere, Oscar-winning writer and BAFTA winner Spike Lee, citing his own comic book roots as a boy, has told the public of being open to directing the next Marvel epic.
The fantasticLynne Ramsay is eager too, pitching: “I would love to do a superhero movie, I love comic books. I read them as a kid. They don’t ask me to do things like that.” you’re able to always count on the voice of a whole slacker generation, Kevin Smith to be (naturally) vocal supporter of the films, andTyler Perry actively let Marvel shootSpider-Man at his studio lot.
Below are some of the spicier comments on Marvel and their movies that some of highest quality of filmmakers have said. Excelsior, this ain’t.
James Cameron (The Terminator, Avatar)
Time and again revitalizing cinema box offices with his movies (Avataris the highest grossing picture of all time, hisTitanicis third, with onlyAvengers: Endgameseparating them),the greatJames Cameronshows no irony when talking toThe New York Timesin promotion ofAvatar’s sequel. Directly calling out Marvel and DC, he said:
When I look at these big, spectacular films — I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college. They have relationships, but they really don’t. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it, and I think that’s not the way to make movies.
Related:Can Avatar Successfully Become the Next Major Franchise?
Mel Gibson (Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ)
Talking toThe Washington Postto promote hisHacksaw Ridge,Mel Gibsonquipped about the mature content of the MCU. The star of such bloody movies likeLethal Weapon(where he physically beats Gary Busey close to death), the same man who kills the US President by slicing off his head inThe Simpsons, and the director of such bloody movies asPassion of the ChristandBraveheart,opted to weigh in on Marvel’s use of violence:
To talk about the violence question, look at any Marvel movie. They’re more violent than anything that I’ve done, but [in my movies,] you give a s— about the characters, which makes it matter more. That’s all I’ll say.
Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Snowpeircer)
Having directed Chris Evans, Captain America himself, in2013’s fantasticSnowpeircer,Bong Joon-hohas his own hand in fantasy and respects the medium. Speaking toVariety, and after praising the likes ofLogan, Guardians of the GalaxyandWinter Soldier, Ho had a very diplomatic approach:
I have a personal problem. I respect the creativity that goes into superhero films, but in real life and in movies, I can’t stand people wearing tight-fitting clothes. I’ll never wear something like that, and just seeing someone in tight clothes is mentally difficult. I don’t know where to look, and I feel suffocated. Most superheroes wear tight suits, so I can never direct one. I don’t think anyone will offer the project to me either. If there is a superhero who has a very boxy costume, maybe I can try.
Jane Campion (The Piano, The Power of the Dog)
Also starring Doctor Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbach,The Power of The Dogdirector made no bones about it when discussing mutants, Spider-Men, aliens or super soldiers.Jane Campionbluntly toldVariety, “I hate them,” and doubled down, “I actually hate them.” Adding a little more context as to why, she continued:
I think it’s safe to say that I will never do that. They’re so noisy and like ridiculous. Sometimes you get a good giggle, but I don’t know what the thing is with the capes, a grown man in tights. I feel like it must come from pantomime.
Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
Having just been awarded the Prix Lumiere award for his contributions to cinema in 2019, and backing his buddy up, Coppola supported Scorsese’s comments — making it clear that, no, he was not a fan of the MCU.Yahooreported that Coppola said:
When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration. I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again […] Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.
Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Moonfall)
Having most recently come away from making the most expensive independent movie of all time, Mr. Explosions himselfRoland Emmerichapproaches Marvel slightly differently. Asked ifthe disaster filmmakinglandscape has altered, and noting his own European roots, Emmerich said toDen Of Geek:
Oh yes […] Because naturally Marvel and DC Comics, andStar Wars, have pretty much taken over. It’s ruining our industry a little bit, because nobody does anything original anymore.
Related:Here’s the One Theme of Roland Emmerich Movies: Father Issues Vs. Mother Nature
He continues:
There were [The Adventures of Tintincomics], but they were very childish and there were no superheroes. So that’s why at the very beginning, superheroes didn’t work in Germany. They needed 10 or 15 years [of movies] to get to the same level as the rest of the world…. But I just have never found any interest in that kind of movie.
Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, Jaws)
Having been the major voice of blockbuster cinema since the 1970s,Steven Spielberghas every right to weigh in on which way he believes cinema will head. Citing fads and trends, theSaving Private Ryandirector compared the superhero movement in film to the death of the Western genre, telling The Associated Press (viaThe Hollywood Reporter):
We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns.
However, Spielberg did praise a select few when talking toThe Omeleteat Cannes, in 2016 (which has been translated originally from Spanish):
I love theSupermanof Richard Donner,The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan, and the firstIron Man, but [the] superhero film that impressed me most is one that does not take itself too seriously:Guardians of the Galaxy. When the movie was over, I left with the feeling of having seen something new in movies, without any cynicism or fear of getting dark when need be.
Ken Loach (Kes, I Daniel Blake)
In promotion of his BBC/BFI-backed 2019 film,Sorry We Missed You(a film focused on zero-hour contracts and a man making his living as a white van driver),British cinema iconKen Loachmatter of factly commented on superhero films in general (and not Marvel’s output in particular), tellingSky News:
I just find them boring. And they’re made as commodities like hamburgers, and it’s not about communicating and it’s not about sharing our imagination. “It’s about making a commodity which will make a profit for a big corporation - they’re a cynical exercise. “They’re market exercise and it has nothing to do with the art of cinema.
Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver)
Now we get to the origin story, if you will. Where it all began. The quote that would launch a hundred memes. Speaking to Empire in October 2019 (in an interviewwhich would reappear in basically every outlet devoted to entertainment),Martin Scorsesederided the Marvel steamtrain, and its effects on the screen. He said:
I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema […] Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.
A month later, writing exclusively forThe New York Times, Scorsese clarified somewhat.
Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes. They are sequels in name but they are remakes in spirit, and everything in them is officially sanctioned because it can’t really be any other way. That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.
Another way of putting it would be that they are everything that the films of Paul Thomas Anderson or Claire Denis or Spike Lee or Ari Aster or Kathryn Bigelow or Wes Anderson arenot. When I watch a movie by any of those filmmakers, I know I’m going to see something absolutely new and be taken to unexpected and maybe even unnameable areas of experience. My sense of what is possible in telling stories with moving images and sounds is going to be expanded.
It was almost as if Scorsese had broken the dam, and great directors as disparate as Paul Schrader and Ridley Scott began dunking on superhero movies as if they played for the same team. The debate continues, with probably no one changing their minds.
