We’re collecting Marvel stars’ opinions on Martin Scorsese like Infinity Stones
As Chris Hemsworth says the criticism was "super depressing," let's look back on what other Marvel stars have said about Scorsese
Aux News Martin Scorsese
It was the offhand comment that launched a thousand ships: “I don’t see [the Marvel movies]. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” living legend Martin Scorsese mentioned to Empire magazine in 2019. “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.”
Did he know when he said it that he, and everyone associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, would be answering for it for years to come? Probably not. He ended up writing a New York Times op-ed to clarify his comments, but that mostly only served to fan the flames. “I think that’s not true. I think it’s unfortunate,” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige told The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg on the Awards Chatter podcast shortly after the op-ed was published. “I think myself and everyone who works on these movies loves cinema, loves movies, loves going to the movies, loves to watch a communal experience in a movie theater full of people.”
In the years since, most of the Avengers and many of the MCU’s stable of directors have weighed in on the Marvel vs. Cinema debate. Read on for remarks from Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and more.
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“We’re collecting Marvel stars’ opinions on Martin Scorsese like Infinity Stones”What a timely article.
Stellan Skarsgard, skipt to the 25:00 minute mark.
Actors Talk: Stellan Skarsgård – Göteborg Film Festival 2020 – YouTube
This was a lot more interesting to me when it was being said about Jaws. Or the first two Star Wars movies. Or Raiders. Or Rambo. Or the Moore Bonds. Or Arnold’s 80s output. Or Michael Bey’s stuff. Or that run of Grisham adaptations we had in the 90s.
I like what I like. Fuck you.
Neither Scorsese nor Tarantino make movies for kids and teens. The superhero movies are targeted at audiences that want action, thrills, fun and spectacle, and for people of all ages. Most importantly, they undeniably earn tons of money, and that’s what studios and their shareholders all want.It’s unfair to these actors that their being cast in a genre movie means some directors will negatively criticize their work.
Did they miss Hopkins’s recent comment about his work in the Thor movies?: “They put me in armor; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne, shout a bit….If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”
Reminds me of Bryan Cox. I would love a movie where those two old coots just yell “fuck off” at each other
You can’t just shove a beard on a guy. You have to finesse it.
They put me in armor; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne, shout a bit…
Out of all of the actors, Ethan Hawk seemed to have the most level-headed opinion here, and he nailed it on the head when he said they probably meant that the MCU isn’t DIRECTOR friendly. Because it’s about the Marvel machine, it’s about the precious release schedule and the neverending hype mechanics, and it’s about how the story of a ton of superhero movies boils down to CGI muck.Why are people asking actors what directors think of their movies? Their perspectives are completely different.
Why are people asking actors what directors think of their movies?For the clicks.
His opinion was that there needs to be someone that says “Marvel movies aren’t art movies” which I can’t really agree with, because that’s patently obvious, and it doesn’t matter. Out of everyone, his opinion was the closest to Bojack Horseman’s mom. “Well, it wasn’t Ibsen.”
Because Ibsen made different movies!
If they were all the same perspective then I expect people would stop asking. I think these are all actually pretty well-considered takes. Mine is you’d think a couple of guys who believe the in-theater experience is part of enjoying a film would appreciate that in the age of streaming, Marvel movies and the like are lifeblood to theater companies. Plus neither Scorcese nor Tarantino is going to have a project crowded out by a studio dedicating its resources to a superhero movie, and probably benefit from the profits they bring into those studios. I do agree that Hawke’s take probably hits closest to the mark. These franchises are machines that directors are expected to fit into, which runs completely counter to the views of guys like them who put distinctive stamps on stories and tell smaller human dramas.
“ he nailed it on the head when he said they probably meant that the MCU isn’t DIRECTOR friendly.”Martin Scorsese has been in the communication business for 56 years. If he meant that he’s more than capable of making that point.
I don’t care what anyone’s opinion of Marvel/superhero movies are. I personally think it’s stupid and closed minded to write off an entire genre of any medium of art with a such a broad brush, but if someone wants to do that then go right ahead. What I do take issue with Scorsese’s comments is his pompous definition of “cinema”, just because his opinion is they’re bad doesn’t mean he gets to be the arbiter of whether they belong in the same category of art as his films.It’s like if Bach listened to The Spice Girls and said “that’s not music and has no business being included in the same genre as my obviously more important work”. Nobody, no matter how important/influential/seminal they are to an art form gets to purge someone else’s work from the genre just because they think it’s lesser than theirs.
So… you DO care about Scorsese’s opinion about Marvel/superhero movies. Because he wasn’t talking about purging anything; he just gave his opinion. You might disagree with or outright hate his definition of cinema, but he’s not being the arbiter of anything. He’s giving his opinion like a human being, not some federal bureaucrat.
When Scorsese “gives an opinion”, purging is assuredly implied.
Poor Chris Hemsworth took the news that Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino weren’t Marvel fans hard. “That’s super depressing when I hear that. There goes two of my heroes I won’t work with. I guess they’re not a fan of me”That’s a really weird takeaway, Chris.
Love Elizabeth Olson’s take on this. Just a monumental amount of effort, experience, and creative skill goes into these films, regardless of the final quality. If those folks aren’t making cinema, what the hell ARE they doing? Arts and crafts? Opinions are always opinions, and while I always appreciate hearing from voices with interesting perspectives and experiences in stuff; I think its important to step away from the monolithic idea of the auteur. No one is out here doing it alone.
I don’t think anything Scorsese has ever said suggests he thinks anyone is out here making movies alone.
There are only maybe 2 people on this list that actually read what Marty wrote. I think the longer this conversation goes on, the more divorced the discourse becomes from what he’s actually written and spoken about. He’s tired of talking about it, and it’s clear that he’s doing much more important things than “gatekeeping” what is or isn’t cinema. People who seem to be under the impression he’s not a populist director or close-minded don’t really know what they’re talking about and it shows.
They probably didn’t read it. I suspect most of these responses came when they were sat down in an interview and asked a question something like “Martin Scorsese says… what do you think?” Easy content creation. Get more click bait out of an out of context quote by asking for people to comment on it… then probably editing the comment down so it’s also out of context. It’s the circle of clickbait.
And, one more time because apparently we’re still doing this…
Infernal Affairs was better than The Departed.There, I said it.
Everyone knows originals coming out of China, Japan, and Hong Kong cinema are always better than American remakes, no matter who’s at the helm.
You said it. It’s not true, but you said it.
I just get a little tired of people acting like Marvel films started a trend when the history of cinema has been loaded with formulaic stories and spectacles.
I think the take that still annoys me the most is the one that Scorsese has “earned” the right to express his opinion, because everyone has that right. You earn it by being a human being who can engage with art. Does Scorsese’s input on the nuts-and-bolts of making a film (financing, navigating the studio system, wrangling creatives of all sorts) have more weight than the average person? Sure. But when it comes to expressing how a film makes you feel, he doesn’t have any more authority than anyone else. We all have the right to say what cinema is to us.
I want to know what Marty thinks of hot dogs.
“They’re not sandwiches.” – Martin Scorsese on Hot Dogs
He’s such a killjoy.
I agree with James Gunn;
“….he just seems awful cynical” Aside from the fact that the audience being entertained IS the very essence of the movie business, Scorsese also misses yet another factor of the marvel films;
They provide —at their finest- LONG-running personal story arcs that the audience gets swept-up in. Take Steve (Capt. America) Rogers for example: You meet this puny patriotic young man in ‘CA First Avenger’, follow him as he becomes a hero and endures through movie-after-movie of combat and personal loss…Until ‘Endgame’, when you see him FINALLY get his ‘Happy Ending’ with his (VERY LONG) Lost Love. If you liked the character, and cared at all about him by then, this is what you would want for him; Happiness…AT LAST!
Saying that this is not ‘artsy’ enough, so therefore not ‘cinema’ IS being ‘cynical’.