Providing Marvel fans with internet fodder for years to come, Martin Scorsese is speaking out against the “really insulting” fixation on judging a movie based on its box office success.
The legendary director aired some grievances about the current state of cinema during an appearance Wednesday at the New York Film Festival, where he premiered his latest documentary, “Personality Crisis: One Night Only.”
“Cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art,” Scorsese said onstage. “Since the ’80s, there’s been a focus on numbers that is kind of repulsive.”
He went on to acknowledge that one cannot completely separate money from moviemaking, given that films aim to have a high return on investment.
“But the emphasis is now on numbers, cost, the opening weekend, how much it made in the USA, how much it made in England, how much it made in Asia, how much it made in the entire world, how many viewers it got,” Scorsese said.
“As a filmmaker, as a person who can’t imagine life without cinema, l always find it really insulting,” he added, calling that the festival a “spiritual home” for moviemaking without awards or competition.
Scorsese’s new music documentary, which he co-directed with David Tedeschi, profiles David Johansen, the frontman of the rock group New York Dolls. His feature film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Apple TV+’s $200 million Western starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, is expected to arrive in 2023.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker has been a vocal detractor of franchise films, previously sparking controversy with remarks about Marvel Cinematic Universe movies being more like “theme parks” and simply “not cinema.”
“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,” he wrote in a 2019 New York Times op-ed. “The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.”
Of course, he is not alone in his criticism, as fellow directors ― including Jane Campion, Denis Villeneuve and Ridley Scott ― have publicly disparaged the superhero flicks that have dominated the box office over the past decade.
But Scorsese’s comments haven’t sat well with Marvel stars and filmmakers, including the Russo brothers, Robert Downey Jr. and James Gunn. Samuel L. Jackson was particularly blunt in his rebuke of Scorsese’s assessment, remarking that directors only dismiss superhero films because audiences “aren’t going to see their movie.”
But Scorsese just as easily doles out praise as he does condemnations. He recently offered a glowing review of Ti West’s latest horror prequel “Pearl,” which he applauded for its “pure, undiluted love for cinema.”